Podothrips sasacola Kurosawa

Okajima, Shûji & Masumoto, Masami, 2025, Some Poaceae-inhabiting Phlaeothripinae (Thysanoptera, Phlaeothripidae) in East Asia, with descriptions of six new genera and 18 new species, Zootaxa 5726 (1), pp. 1-68 : 45-46

Podothrips sasacola Kurosawa

( Figs 142–143 )

Podothrips sasacola Kurosawa, 1940: 100 .

This species occurs under the sheath of bamboo and is a predator of Diaspididae , as is P. odonaspicola . It is widely distributed in the southern part of Japan, Hachijô-jima Is., Okinawa Is. and the Ogasawara Islands, and is recorded here from Honshu for the first time. Most of the bamboos that grow in the Ogasawara Islands have probably been artificially introduced, and it is thought that P. sasacola was introduced together with bamboo from the Ryukyu Islands. This is because there are records of many plant species being artificially transported to Ogasawara from Okinawa Is., the Ryukyu Islands. Recently Dang et al. (2019) recorded this species from Sichuan, China, but that population is somewhat isolated from the distribution range of sasacola in Japan. It varies in some structures between local populations, such as body color and length of posteromarginal setae S1 on the abdominal tergite IX ( Okajima, 2006). The fore wing usually has no duplicated cilia, although infrequently one cilium is present. This species is very similar to P. bicolor and Tyagi et al. (2020) treated these two species as a single species, but they are treated here as different species (see above, under bicolor ). Okaijma (2006) provided a full description of this species.

Specimens examined. Japan, many females and males from Hachijo Is., Okinawa Is. and the Ogasawara Islands (detailed data are omitted, see Okajima 2006). Additional record : Japan, 3 females, Honshu, Chiba-ken, Tateyamashi, Mera, on bamboo, 12.vi.1999, TN .

Figures

FIGURES 134–143. Podothrips species, female. P. bellatulus 134–135: (134) whole body; (135) head. P. bicolor 136–137: (136) whole body; (137) head. P. luteus 138–139: (138) whole body; (139) head. P. odonaspicola 140–141: (140) whole body; (141) head. P. sasacola 142–143: (142) whole body; (143) head.