This is a brown species which has fore wing banded, extensively pale, but with dark spots on median and distal areas, with extreme apex dark. The hind tibiae are also distinctively bicoloured and the pronotum lacks distinctive sculpture. The sensoria on antennal segments III & IV are relatively short when compared to the other Lenkothrips species; males have large and transverse sternal pore plates. The abdominal tergites have a fringe of independent microtrichia on posterior margins, and females have discal setae on abdominal sternites (Cavalleri & Mound 2014).
Intraspecific variation
Not recorded.
Genus and similar species information
The Lenkothrips genus comprises eight species of flower feeding thrips, all described from South America. These species resemble Heterothrips species in external morphology, but they differ in having the circumpolar sensorial areas on antennal segments III & IV extending into a continuous lateral loop to the base of their segments. An updated key to species is provided by Lima et al. (2024).
Flower-feeding species, possibly associated with Malpighiaceae.
Economic importance
Not recorded.
References suggested
Cavalleri A & Mound LA (2014) The neotropical flower-living genus Lenkothrips (Thysanoptera, Heterothripidae): three new species and an identification key. Zootaxa 3814: 581–590.
