Anactinothrips gustaviae Mound & Palmer, 1983: 792.

Original reference: Mound LA & Palmer JM (1983) Spore-feeding Thysanoptera of the genus Anactinothrips with a new sub- social species from Panama. Journal of Natural History 17: 789-797.

Family
Phlaeothripidae, Idolothripinae

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

Diagnosis
Female macropterous; body color mainly dark brown, with all tarsi and tip of tube paler; antennomeres I–II and VII–VIII dark brown, III yellowish with apex brown, IV–VI brown with yellowish pedicel; wings pale and yellowish. Antennae 8-segmented, antennomeres III and IV long and club-shaped; III with 2 and IV with 4 short sense cones. Head longer than wide, lateral margins slightly convex; dorsal surface with 2 pairs of long and thick setae (a postocular pair and a pair in the middle of head), ocellar setae thin, and several shorter setae laterally; maxillary stylets about 1/3 of head width apart and reaching about half of head length. Pronotum with 2 pairs of long setae (epimeral and posteroangular), anteromarginal, anteroangular and midlateral pairs short; prosternal basantra present. Metanotum sculptured, with a pair of very long median setae, extending almost to posterior margin of abdominal tergite II; metathorax lateroventral sclerites with robust microtrichia, sternopleural sutures absent. Pelta transverse and reticulated; abdominal tergites II–VII with 1 pair of wing-retaining setae. Tube cylinder-shaped, about 3.3-3.7x as long as basal width, shorter than head, without lateral setae. All legs similar in appearance, fore femora with long setae, fore tarsi with a tooth. Fore wings with duplicated cilia.

Male macropterous. Similar to female, but major males with enlarged fore legs. “Stridulatory” structure present on fore legs. Pore plates absent.

Intraspecific variation
Males have major forms, with greatly swollen fore legs, a larger tarsal tooth and well-developed posterior projection on fore femora; and minor forms, more similar to females.

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 gustaviae had the head less than 1.7x as long as greatest width, while the other species in the genus have the head about 2x as long as wide; and it is the only species of Anactinothrips whose females bear a fore tarsal tooth. A key to Anactinothrips species is available in Mound & Marullo (1996).

Distribution around the world
Described from Panama, recorded from Brazil.

Distribution in Brazil
http://fauna.jbrj.gov.br/fauna/faunadobrasil/74936 

Life history
Lives in lichen-covered tree trunks, especially of Membrillo (Gustavia superba), where it probably feeds on the fungal spores produced by the lichens.This species is subsocial, living in colonies where the adults protect the eggs and young, guiding the latter to feeding spots each day (Mound & Palmer 1983b; Kiester and Strates 1984).

Economic importance
Not recorded.

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

Mound LA & Palmer JM (1983b) Spore-feeding Thysanoptera of the genus Anactinothrips with a new sub- social species from Panama. Journal of Natural History 17: 789-797.

Kiester AR & Strates E (1984) Social behavior in a thrips from Panama. Journal of Natural History 18: 303–314.

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