Original reference: Andre F (1939) A synopsis of the American species of Chirothrips Haliday (Thysanoptera). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 41: 192–204.
Body dark brown, abdomen paler; head, antennae, thorax and legs brown; fore wing uniformly shaded. Head without strong sculpture, prolonged in front of eyes; vertex with about 30 pairs of setae. Antennae 8-segmented, III & IV each with a simple sense cones; antennal segment I enlarged, II asymmetric with external lateral margin strongly produced. Pronotum trapezoidal; without reticulation but covered with numerous small setae; two pairs of short posteroangular setae present; setae on anterior margin not distinctly longer than discal setae. Meso and metathoracic endofurca weakly developed, without spinula; Meso and metathorax covered with many short setae; metanotal campaniform sensilla present. Ferna, ventral surface of meso and metathorax with several short setae. Fore coxae enlarged, tarsi 2-segmented. Fore wing first and second veins with few and sparse setae. Abdominal tergites and sternites weakly reticulate, with many short and stout setae. Ovipositor small. Female macropterous, male apterous.
Male paler than female and not so bicoloured; ocelli and wing absent; metanotum rectangular; large oval pore plates on abdominal sternites III–VII.
Intraspecific variation
Colour of abdomen varies from yellow to light brown.
Related and similar species
The New World genus Arorathrips includes about 15 species, all of them having antennal segment II strongly asymmetric, and segments III & IV with simple sense cones. It is closely related to Chirothrips but differs in having the mesothoracic endofurca reduced. Arorathrips texanuscan be distinguished from the other Arorathrips species by the numerous pairs of short setae covering the ventral and dorsal body surfaces.
World distribution
Described from USA, it is reported from Brazil, Haiti, Mexico, Paraguay.
Mound LA & Marullo R (1996) The Thrips of Central and South America: An Introduction. Memoirs on Entomology, International 6: 1–488.
Nakahara S & Foottit RG (2012) Review of Chirothrips and related genera (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) of the Americas, with descriptions of one new genus and four new species. Zootaxa 3251: 1–29.
Published in: 23/12/2016 Posted by: Mariana Lindner
