Actinothrips femoralis Hood, 1950: 5.

Original reference: Hood JD (1950) Brasilian Thysanoptera I. Revista de Entomologia 20: 3–88.

Family
Phlaeothripidae, Idolothripinae

Nomenclatural information 
https://thrips.info/wiki/Actinothrips_femoralis

Diagnosis
Male macropterous; body color mainly dark brown, tarsi paler; antennomeres I–II and VII–VIII dark brown, III–V yellow with the globose subapical region brown, gradually darker, VI dark brown with lighter pedicel; wings light brown, darker basally, and with an almost black median line. Antennae 8-segmented, antennomere III with 2 and IV with 4 sense cones; antennomeres III–V extremely long and club-shaped. Head longer than wide, with one pair of long setae dorsally and two pairs laterally, all posterior to the eyes; lateral margins slightly sinuous; maxillary stylets wide apart, extending to half of head length. Pronotum with 3 pairs of well-developed setae (midlaterals, epimerals and posteroangulars); prosternal basantra absent. Metanotum reticulated, with one pair of long and thick setae medially, and two or three thin setae on anterior angles. Metathoracic sternopleural sutures absent. Pelta triangular and wide, with irregular reticulation forming a triangle medially and transversely striate laterally; abdomen sculptured, reticles with small teeth/tubercles medially, tergites II–VII with 1 pair of wing-retaining setae; abdominal segment VIII more than two times as long as wide, constrict medially, with three pairs of stout posterior setae. Pore plates absent. Tube cylinder-shaped, about 8–10x as long as basal width, with numerous lateral setae, especially basally. All legs similar in appearance in minor males, but fore legs enlarged in major males; fore femora with two long setae on outer margin, and one or two rows of thick and sometimes flattened setae on inner margin; fore tarsi with a tooth of variable size. Fore wings with about 20 duplicated cilia.

Female macropterous. Similar to minor males, but without rows of thick and flattened setae on fore femora nor a tarsal tooth. Fore femora with about 6–7 long and sparse setae.

Intraspecific variation
Males show morphological variation related to size: smaller specimens tend to be similar to females, while larger males tend to have more stout setae on the inner margin of the fore femora. Differences in the size of tarsal tooth between distinct populations has also been observed.

Genus and similar species information
Actinothrips is a genus with 13 species, all from the Neotropics. It belongs to a group of Idolothripinae genera with an elongate head, projected in front of eyes and with multiple long setae, basantra weakly developed or absent, metathoracic sternopleural sutures absent, and a very elongate tube, with multiple lateral setae. Males of several Actinothrips species are very morphologically diverse, with minor and major forms; while the females of different taxa tend to be very similar to each other, making the distinction between species difficult. Actinothrips femoralis is unique among brazilian species of the genus, due to males bearing one or two rows of very thick and flattened setae on the inner margin of fore femora, and no setae near its apex. A key to males of some Actinothrips species is available in Mound (1991).

Distribution around the world
Described from Brazil.

Distribution in Brazil
http://fauna.jbrj.gov.br/fauna/faunadobrasil/88052 

Life history
Lives in dead twigs and leaves, where it feeds on fungal spores.

Economic importance
Not recorded.

References suggested
Hood JD (1950) Brasilian Thysanoptera I. Revista de Entomologia 20: 3–88.

Mound LA & Palmer JM (1983) The generic and tribal classification of spore-feeding Thysanoptera (Phlaeothripidae: Idolothripinae). Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). Entomology 46: 1–174. 

Mound LA (1991) Secondary sexual character variation in male Actinothrips species (Insecta: Thysanoptera), and its probable significance in fighting behaviour. Journal of Natural History 25: 933–943.