Original reference: Niwa S (1908) Soyo ni kiseisuru thrips no isshu nit site (Belothrips mori n. sp. on mulberry leaves). Nippon konchugakkwai kwaiho Ho. Transactions of the Entomological Society of Japan 2: 180–181.
Body white coloured with no brown markings; antennal segments III–IX shaded, IV–VI sometimes yellow at base; fore wing slightly shaded. Head with reticulate sculpture between ocelli and with three pairs of ocellar setae; postocular setae not developed. Antennae 8 or 9-segmented, VIII & IX separated by a partial or complete suture; III & IV with forked sense cones. Pronotum with transverse sculpture lines and only one pair of long posteroangular setae; reticles with faint internal markings. Mesothoracic endofurca with weak spinula and metathoracic endofurca lyre-shaped. Metanotum with closely spaced longitudinal lines medially and reticulated laterally; paired campaniform sensilla absent; two pairs of setae, median pair small and far behind anterior margin. Tarsi 1-segmented and exceptionally long. Fore wing first vein with only two setae near apex and second vein without setae. Abdominal tergites covered with longitudinal lines of sculpture, similar with microtrichia in appearance; II–VIII with a pair of long close together median setae; VIII with posteromarginal comb of slender microtrichia. Sternites without discal setae; three pairs of long posteromarginal setae. Both sexes fully winged.
Male without pore plates on abdominal sternites; tergite IX with four pairs of setae in a transverse row.
Intraspecific variation
Antenna usually 8-segmented, or 9-segmented with apical part of VI separated by a partial or complete suture.
Genus and similar species information
The genus Pseudodendrothrips includes 20 described species, but the significance of some of the species in which the body colour is mainly yellow remains conjectural. This genus is commonly used for species with the hind tarsi exceptionally long but it is not satisfactorily distinguished from the Neotropical Leucothrips and Halmathrips. The species in all of these genera have a characteristic 'lyre-shaped' metathoracic endofurca and possibly represent a single clade. Pseudodendrothripsmoriis remarkable in having the hind tarsi more than half as long as the hind tibiae.
World distribution
Described from Japan, it is also recorded from Australia, Brazil, Chile, China and USA.
Breeding on leaves, mainly on young terminal leaves of Moraceae, as in some Ficus and Morus species.
Economic importance
Sometimes causing leaf damage on commercial mulberry trees (Hoddle et al. 2012).
References suggested
Hoddle MS, Mound LA & Paris DL (2012) Thrips of California. CBIT Publishing, Queensland. Available on: http://keys.lucidcentral.org/keys/v3/thrips_of_california/ Thrips_of_California.html
Mound LA (1999) Saltatorial leaf-feeding Thysanoptera (Thripidae, Dendrothripinae) in Australia and New Caledonia, with newly recorded pests of ferns, figs and mulberries. Australian Journal of Entomology 38: 257–273.
Published in: 30/12/2016 Posted by: Mariana Lindner
