Mesothrips pyctes Karny, 1916

Dang, Lihong, Tong, Xiaoli & Mound, Laurence A., 2024, New synonymy among gall thrips of the Asian genus Mesothrips, with revision of species from China (Thysanoptera, Haplothripini), ZooKeys 1196, pp. 121-138 : 121

Mesothrips pyctes Karny

Figs 26 , 28 , 30 , 31

Mesothrips pyctes Karny, 1916: 191.

Material examined.

Syntypes, 1♀ 1♂, Indonesia, Java, on Ficus sp. [ Moraceae ], 1.iii.1914, Docters van Leeuwen (SMF) .

Comments.

This species was described from an unspecified number of adults taken in Java, Indonesia, from leaf galls on a species of Eugenia [ Myrtaceae ]. No further studies were published on this species until Wang (2002) listed it from Taiwan, presumably based only on the key to species by Ananthakrishnan (1976). Fortunately, one female and one male labelled as syntypes, but labelled as taken from Ficus sp., were checked during studies in 2013 ( Dang et al. 2014). Mesothrips species usually have setae on tergite IX as long as or longer than tube, but these syntypes have these setae shorter than the tube (Fig. 28 ), a condition that also occurs in M. claripennis . However, it seems that they can be distinguished by the length of the anal setae (Fig. 28 ), as indicated in the key.

Figures

Figures 26 - 31. Mesothrips spp. Head, pronotum and foreleg (26 - 27) 26 M. pyctes 27 M. vitripennis (type specimens of Mesothrips elaeocarpi); tergites IX-X (28 - 29) 28 M. pyctes 29 M. vitripennis (type specimens of Mesothrips elaeocarpi); M. pyctes (30 - 31) 30 sub-basal setae of forewing 31 antennae.