Heliothrips haemorrhoidalis (Bouche, 1833:42).

Original reference: Bouche PF (1833) Naturgeschichte der schaldingen und nutzlichen Garten-Insekten und die bewahrtesten Mittel zur Vertilgung der ersteren. Berlin, 176 pp.

Family

Thripidae, Panchaetothripinae

Nomenclatural information

http://thrips.info/wiki/Heliothrips_haemorrhoidalis

Diagnosis

Body dark brown, legs clear yellow; antennal segments III–V & VII–VIII yellow, VI brown in apical half; fore wing pale with hind margin slightly shaded. Head strongly reticulate and constricted to a basal neck. Antennal segments III & IV each one with a simple sense cone; VIII elongated. Pronotum reticulate and without long setae. Meso and metathoracic endofurca without spinula and with short arms. Mesonotum without longitudinal division medially. Metanotum forming a bold reticulated triangle, median setae small and campaniform sensilla present. Tarsi 1-segmented. Fore wing with apex rounded; first and second row of setae incomplete. Abdominal tergites II–VIII with one pair of long setae medially; lateral thirds and anterior margin largely reticulated; VIII with a posteromarginal comb of microtrichia; X short and usually with complete longitudinal division. Sternites reticulate and with three pairs of small posteromarginal setae. Both sexes fully winged.

Male with three pairs of stout thorn-like setae on tergite IX; sternites III–VII with transverse pore plates.

Intraspecific variation

Campaniform sensilla on metanotum frequently difficult to observe; abdomen paler in freshly emerged adults.

Genus and similar species information

This genus belongs to the subfamily Panchaeotothripinae and includes five Neotropical species. They have body strongly sculptured, simple and long sense cones on antennal segment III–IV, and fore wings with a distinctive rounded apex. The widespread H. haemorrhoidalis can be distinguished from H. zucchi by the dark brown colour of femora and antennal segment VI and from H. similis by strong reticulation in front of antecostal ridge on abdominal tergites III–VIII. An illustrated key to neotropical Heliothrips species is given by Silva et al. (2024).

World distribution

Described from Germany, this species is widespread in tropics and subtropics in all continents. Males of this species are rarely collected (Mound & Monteiro 1998).

Distribution in Brazil

http://fauna.jbrj.gov.br/fauna/faunadobrasil/43553 

Life history

The greenhouse thrips breeds on mature leaves of several and unrelated plants species. In Brazil, larvae and adults are commonly collected on citrus, grapes and mango leaves.

Economic importance

Polyphagous species. Leaves become mottled due to feeding damage, with lower surface of leaves bearing characteristic black spots formed by faeces pellets (Hoddle et al. 2012).

References suggested

Mound LA & Marullo R (1996). The Thrips of Central and South America: An Introduction. Memoirs on Entomology, International 6: 1–488.

Mound LA & Monteiro R (1998) A review of the genus Heliothrips (Thysanoptera; Thripidae), with a new sister-species of the Greenhouse Thrips from south-eastern Brazil. Journal of the New York Entomological Society 105: 154–160. 

Nakahara S, O’Donnell CA & Mound LA (2015) Heliothrips haemorrhoidalis and its relatives, with one new species and one new genus (Thysanoptera). Zootaxa 4021 (4): 578–584.

Silva, L de MR, O’Donnell CA & Lima EFB (2024) Species identity crisis among New World members of the genus Heliothrips (Thysanoptera: Thripidae: Panchaetothripinae). Zootaxa 5489 (1): 153–172.

Wilson TH (1975). A monograph of the subfamily Panchaetothripinae (Thysanoptera: Thripidae). Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 23: 1–354.

Xie Y, Mound LA & Zhang H (2019) A new species of Heliothrips (Thysanoptera, Panchaetothripinae), based on morphological and molecular data. Zootaxa 4638 (1): 143 –150.