Scirtothrips kenyensis Mound

Tyagi, Kaomud, Kumar, Vikas & Chauhan, Neena, 2015, A new species of the genus Tameothrips Bhatti (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) with four new records of thrips from India, Zootaxa 4007 (2), pp. 283-289 : 288-289

Scirtothrips kenyensis Mound

Scirtothrips kenyensis Mound, 1968 , 535.

The genus Scirtothrips is one of the largest genera of insect order Thysanoptera with 109 species listed currently (ThripsWiki 2015). These thrips mostly feed and breed on newly emerged, young leaves and have been reported as major pests of a wide variety of economically important crops and also as vectors of tospoviruses ( Mound & Stiller 2011; Riley et al. 2011). S. kenyensis was originally described as a serious pest of tea in Kenya ( Mound 1968), and is here reported for the first time outside of Africa. It is a large, dark species in comparison to other species of this genus, and can be distinguished by the robust body, presence of one pair of long pronotal setae, and straight cilia on the fore wing.

Diagnosis. Body yellow with extensive brown shading, tergites and sternites with dark median areas and dark antecostal ridges, pronotum with brown markings, head brown in ocellar region; antennal segment I yellow, segments II–VIII brown; fore wing including clavus brown ( Fig. 3 ). Ocellar setae III close together on tangent between anterior margins of hind ocelli; fore wing second vein with 3 setae, posterior cilia straight; metanotum reticulate; tergites VIII–IX with no microtrichia medially; sternites without microtrichia medially.

Material studied. INDIA, Himachal Pradesh, Mandi, tea plantation, 2 females 15.x.2013, Tyagi & Kumar (Reg. No. 6517/H17 to 6518/H17), 4 females, 5.vi.2014, (Reg. No. 6519/H17 to 6522/H17), one female, 4.vi.2014, (Reg. No. 6523/H17), Tyagi & Kumar.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 6. (1) Tameothrips arundo female; (2) Tameothrips arundo male; (3) Scirtothrips kenyensis, female; (4) Parabaliothrips takahashii, female; (5) Panchaetothrips noxius, female; (6) Helionothrips aino, female.