Macropterous species; body color mainly dark brown, with antennomere I dark brown; Antennae 8-segmented, antennomere III with 2 and IV with 3 sense cones. Head with postocellar setae short; maxillary stylets V-shaped, far apart. Metathoracic sternopleural sutures present. Pelta broad, with basal wings; abdominal tergites II–VII with one pair of wing-retaining setae. Tube with lateral margins slightly convex. Fore legs with a tarsal tooth. Fore wings with duplicated cilia.
Intraspecific variation
Unknown.
Genus and similar species information
Neosmerinthothrips is a genus with 24 species, occurring in the tropics and Australia. The species have well developed metathoracic sternopleural sutures, and a robust tube with convex margins, comparable to those seen in Acallurothrips and Pygothrips species. Neosmerinthothrips is differentiated from Acallurothrips for having antennomeres VII and VIII clearly distinct from each other and the tube not as strongly swollen, and from Pygothrips for having the maxillary stylets far apart and V-shaped. Neosmerinthothrips paulistarum is similar to the species N. annulipes, N. picticornis and N. variipes, but it differs from all other species in the genus for having only 3 sense cones on antennomere IV. A key to some species of Neosmerinthothrips, including most of the ones recorded in Brazil, is available in Mound (1974).
