Body largely dark brown, including legs and antennae; femora yellowish at apex; antennal segments I–III yellow; abdominal segments II & III yellow with anterior margins brown; tergite X yellowish; fore wing brown with transverse white band medially, and an indistinct sub-apical spot. Head wider than long, without long setae; recessed into prothorax; eyes prolonged ventrally. Maxillary palps 3-segmented. Antennae 9-segmented; III exceptionally long, more than 3.0 times as long as II; segments III & IV with linear sensory areas extending into basal quarter of segment, these areas with characteristic scalloped margins. Pronotum smooth, with no long setae. Metanotum without sculpture medially; median setae small, close to posterior margin. Fore wing with two complete rows of widely spaced setae. Abdominal tergites with discal setae small; tergite X with pair of very small trichobothria. Sternites III–VII with two pairs of posteromarginal setae, and two pairs of discal setae laterally.
Male similar in colouration but with smaller and slender body.
Intraspecific variation
Not recorded.
Genus and similar species information
Franklinothrips is a pan-tropical genus which comprises 16 described species. Females have abdominal segments I & II more or less constricted and sometimes sharply pale, thus producing an ant-like body. Antennal segments III & IV are also exceptionally long and slender, segment III about 10.0 times as long as wide and with sinuous sensoria. F. vespiformisis presumably originally from the Neotropics, and differs from the other species reported from Brazil in having the fore wing with a pale sub-apical area and abdominal segment X yellowish. Mound & Reynaud (2005) provided a key to the world Franklinothrips species.
World distribution
Widely distributed, including Australia, China, India, Fiji, Kenya, Japan, New Caledonia, Thailand, USA, and many Caribbean and South American countries.
