Hoplothrips flavitibia Moulton

Mound, Laurence A., 2017, Intra-specific structural variation among Hawaiian Hoplothrips (Thysanoptera, Phlaeothripidae), with ten new synonymies and one new species, ZooKeys 722, pp. 137-152 : 142

Hoplothrips flavitibia Moulton

Hoplothrips flavitibia Moulton, 1928: 117.

Remarks.

Moulton described this species from 45 specimens taken in 1927 on Waipio Ridge, Oahu. He compared this briefly to japonicus as well as lanaiensis , laticornis and ovatus . However, flavitibia shares with corticis from the northern hemisphere the following character states: rather short antennal segment III but slender VIII; metanotum without sculpture medially but with an additional pair of discal setae (Fig. 17); pelta posterolateral angles almost confluent with tergite II anterior margin (Fig. 18). At present there is insufficient material to establish a formal synonymy, but no obvious character states have been observed to distinguish flavitibia from corticis, a species that is widespread in Europe, North America and Japan, and also known from New Zealand. Zimmerman (1948) indicated that flavitibia had been found on Kauai, Maui, and Hawaii in addition to Oahu, and nine females with four males (in BMNH) have been studied that were collected and identified by Sakimura as flavitibia from Olinda, Maui. During July 2016, several specimens were taken near Volcano, Hawaii, and also on the Makuleia Trail, Oahu.