Grass-dependent Thysanoptera of the family Thripidae from Australia
Author
Mound, Laurence A.
text
Zootaxa
2011
3064
1
40
journal article
46148
10.5281/zenodo.200567
dbb812a3-60dd-4f6f-bb48-9e2ce120221a
1175-5326
200567
Caprithrips
Faure
(
Fig. 45
)
Six species are recognised in this genus of small, wingless thrips, all of them leaf-feeding on grasses. The natural distributions of these species remain unclear, but two were described from
India
, one from Europe, one from Southeastern
USA
, and one from
Australia
, and a key to these is provided by
Bhatti (1980)
. Of these six species,
C. moundi
lacks sternal craspeda and appears to be an Australian endemic, living on native
Poa
species in the Southeast of the continent. Two other species are known from
Australia
, both of which have sternal craspeda.
C. orientalis
has been found both near Darwin and in northern Queensland, and is otherwise known from
India
,
Fiji
and
New Caledonia
(
Bournier & Mound, 2000
), as well as
Cape Verde
Islands (zur Strassen, 1993). Single females of
C. insularis
have been seen from Queensland, near Brisbane and also near Cairns, as well as from four of the Torres Strait Islands. However, the species is common in Florida and
Georgia
on the leaves of
Paspalum notatum
, a cultivated grass native to
Argentina
(
Sharma
et al.
, 2011
), and is also recorded from
Trinidad
,
Surinam
, and
New Caledonia
. Members of this genus share with those of five other genera in
Australia
the presence of one or more pairs of setae on the prosternal basisternum (
Fig. 45
) –
Masamithrips
,
Karphothrips
,
Kranzithrips
,
Monothrips
and
Parexothrips
.
C. moundi
usually has the prosternal ferna curving forwards and meeting in the mid-line, but some individuals have these plates forming simple transverse ovals.