Anactinothrips distinguendus Bagnall, 1914: 379.

Original reference: Bagnall RS (1914) Brief descriptions of new Thysanoptera IV. Annals and Magazine of Natural History (8) 14: 375–381.

Family
Phlaeothripidae, Idolothripinae

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

Diagnosis
Female macropterous; body color mainly dark brown, lighter at tip of tube; antennomeres I–II and VI–VIII dark brown, III–V with base/pedicel yellow and apex brown; wings pale with a dark line on basal half. Antennae 8-segmented, antennomeres III and IV long and club-shaped. Head longer than wide, dorsal surface with three pairs of long and thick setae (an ocellar pair, a postocular pair and a pair in the middle of head) and several shorter setae laterally; maxillary stylets parallel to each other, about half of head width apart and reaching about half of head length. Pronotum with 3 pairs of well-developed setae (midlateral, epimeral and posteroangular), anteromarginal and anteroangular pairs thin and short; prosternal basantra present. Metanotum reticulated, with a pair of very long and thick median setae; metathorax lateroventral sclerites with microtrichia, sternopleural sutures absent. Pelta triangular and wide, reticulated medially and transversely reticulated laterally; abdomen reticulated, tergites II–VII with 1 pair of wing-retaining setae. Tube almost cylinder-shaped, about 3x as long as basal width, without lateral setae. All legs similar in appearance, fore femora with long setae, fore tarsi without a tooth. Fore wings with many duplicated cilia.

Male macropterous. Similar to female but with enlarged fore legs and a tarsal tooth. “Stridulatory” structure present on fore legs. Pore plates absent.

Intraspecific variation
Unknown.

Genus and similar species information
Anactinothrips is a genus with 15 described species, but it is possible some of them are synonymous to others. These thrips are usually dark, medium to large sized, with basantra present, without metathoracic sternopleural sutures, and tube without lateral setae. Males of Anactinothrips and Diceratothrips have a unique adaptation to their fore legs, with a series of ridges on the coxae and a posterior projection on the femora, which seem to work as a stridulatory structure or as a locking mechanism for the fore legs. Despite this unique structure, these genera probably belong to different evolutionary lineages, and Anactinothrips can be distinguished from Diceratothrips for lacking metathoracic sternopleural sutures, having a transverse pelta, and long setae on metanotum and laterals of abdominal segments. Anactinothrips distinguendus has a few similarities with species from the meinerti group (which includes the Brazilian species A. fuscus and A. silvicola), but it is differentiated for having the pair of setae in the middle of head only half of the length of postoculars.A key to Anactinothrips species is available in Mound & Marullo (1996).

Distribution around the world
Described from Guyana, recorded from Brazil and Peru.

Distribution in Brazil
São Paulo.

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

Economic importance
Not recorded.

References suggested
Bagnall RS (1914) Brief descriptions of new Thysanoptera IV. Annals and Magazine of Natural History (8) 14: 375–381.

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