Frankliniella gemina Bagnall, 1919: 265.

Original reference: Bagnall RS (1919) Brief descriptions of new Thysanoptera X. Annals and Magazine of Natural History (9)4: 253–277.

Family

Thripidae, Thripinae

Nomenclatural information

http://thrips.info/wiki/Frankliniella_gemina

Diagnosis

Body yellow, including legs; antennal segments VI–VIII brown, III brown in apical half, IV–V brown with a short pale area basally; fore wings pale. Head with three pairs of ocellar setae, pair III long and arising within ocellar triangle. Antennae 8-segmented, III & IV with forked sense cones; III with simple pedicel. Pronotum not sculptured and with two pairs of long posteroangular setae; anteroangular and anteromarginal setae long, but less than 0.5 pronotum length. Mesothoracic spinula long, metathoracic spinula absent. Metanotum with transverse lines of sculpture anteriorly, reticulate posteromedially; campaniform sensilla present; two pairs of setae arising at anterior margin. Fore wing with first and second rows of setae complete and closely spaced. Abdominal tergites V–VIII with ctenidia laterally, ctenidia on VIII anterolateral to spiracle; VIII with a complete posteromarginal comb of microtrichia. Sternites without discal setae, with three pairs of long posteromarginal setae. Both sexes fully winged.

Male with transverse pore plates on abdominal sternites III–VII.

Intraspecific variation

Populations in southern Brazil that are otherwise indistinguishable from gemina commonly comprise individuals with antennal segment II uniformly brown, and segment V largely brown with only the basal third yellow.

Genus and similar species information

Frankliniella is one of the largest genera amongst Thysanoptera, comprising more than 160 described species. About 90% of the species are from the Neotropics and their taxonomy is usually complex. Almost all members have 8-segmented antennae, three pairs of ocellar setae and fore wing with both rows of setae complete. About 40 species are recorded from Brazil, and almost half of these were described from this country. Frankliniella gemina is probably related to other yellow Frankliniella species, such as distinguenda and zucchini, and its recognition is often difficult. The specimens named as this species might include a complex of cryptic species, and further investigation involving experimental rearing of single populations combined with molecular techniques of distinguishing species is required. A key to Frankliniella species recorded from Brazil is provided by Cavalleri & Mound (2012).

World distribution

Recorded from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Peru.

Distribution in Brazil

http://fauna.jbrj.gov.br/fauna/faunadobrasil/84211 

Life history

Breeding on flowers of several unrelated plants, mainly Asteraceae (Cavalleri et al. 2006).

Economic importance

Referred as a minor pest in grapes in Brazil (Moreira et al. 2014) and also mentioned as a Tospovirus vector, but this record needs further studies.  

References suggested

Cavalleri A; Romanowski HP & Redaelli L (2006) Thrips species (Insecta: Thysanoptera) inhabiting plants of the Parque Estadual de Itapuã, Viamão, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil. Revista Brasileira de Zoologia 23(2): 367–374.

Cavalleri A & Mound LA (2012) Toward the identification of Frankliniella species in Brazil (Thysanoptera, Thripidae). Zootaxa 3270: 1–30.