Body bicoloured, head brown with post-occipital area paler; pronotal blotch dark brown with anterior area pale with dark reticulate lines; mesonotum and metanotum dark brown; abdominal tergites II–VII with antecostal ridge dark brown, II–IV brown laterally, V–VI mainly yellow but shaded brown medially, VII–IX dark brown, X light brown; fore wings brown with sub-basal pale band, an indistinct pale median area and apex sometimes a little paler, clavus dark at base with dark setae; antennal segments I–II weakly shaded, III–IV pale with apex light brown; hind tibiae yellow, femora brown. Head with occipital apodeme confluent with posterior margin of eyes, ocellar area with widely spaced striation, setal pair III on margins of ocellar triangle; antennal segments III & IV with short constricted apical neck. Pronotum boldly reticulate on anterior and posteromedian areas, pronotal blotch striate with transverse row of setae on anterior margin. Mesonotum striate, median setal pair anterior to the lateral; metanotum anterior half transversely striate, posterior half longitudinally striate, two pairs of setae on anterior margin; metasternal plate with distinctive anterior emargination. Fore wing second vein with 2 setae distally. Tergites II–VI with comb of microtrichia incomplete medially, VII with minute teeth medially, VIII with complete comb; tergite IX with 2 pairs of mid-dorsal setae;sternites without microtrichia medially. Both sexes fully winged.
Male smaller than female, tergites V and VII light brown; sternites without pore plates.
Intraspecific variation
Not recorded.
Genus and similar species information
Almost 120 species are included in Neohydatothrips, most from tropical countries (Mound & Tree 2009). All of them have the abdominal sternites and lateral thirds of tergites covered by rows of fine microtrichia, with many of them being bicoloured and with banded fore wings. Neohydatothrips chelinus is one of four species with the anterior area of the pronotum boldly reticulate, but the pronotal blotch is dark brown in contrast to the pale anterior third of the pronotum. A key to the Neotropical species of Neohydatothrips is provided by Lima & Mound (2016).
