Elaphrothrips gracilis Moulton, 1933: 410.

Original reference: Moulton D (1933) The Thysanoptera of South America IV. Revista de Entomologia 3: 385–419.

Family

Phlaeothripidae, Idolothripinae

Nomenclatural information 

https://thrips.info/wiki/Elaphrothrips_gracilis 

Diagnosis

Female macropterous; body color body color dark brown, almost black; antennae almost black, antennomere III mostly brownish yellow with dark brown apex, IV slightly paler on basal half; wings weakly shaded with brown, with a median dark line. Antennae 8-segmented, antennomere III longer than the others; III with 2 and IV with 4 sense cones. Head longer than wide, projected ahead of eyes; ocellar setae apparently short or absent, postocular setae probably elongate, cheeks with stout and short setae; maxillary stylets far apart. Pronotum reticulated, with only the midlateral, epimeral and posteroangular pairs of setae elongate; prosternal basantra present. Metathoracic sternopleural sutures absent. Pelta triangular and broad, reticulated, basal angles curved upwards; tergites II–VII with 2 pairs of wing-retaining setae and several smaller accessory setae. Tube cone-shaped, about 3.7x as long as basal width, without lateral setae. All legs similar in appearance, fore femora with several well-developed setae, fore tarsi without a tooth. Fore wings with about 52 duplicated cilia.

Male unknown.

Intraspecific variation

Unknown.

Genus and similar species information

Elaphrothrips is the Idolothripinae genus with the most described species, with almost 150 species widely distributed across tropical and subtropical regions. These thrips are usually large and dark-colored, distinguished from other Brazilian Idolothripinae (except Saurothrips) for having two pairs of wing-retaining setae on the abdominal tergites; in larger specimens, many accessory setae may be present in addition to the main wing-retaining pairs. Besides that, they have elongated head, major ocellar setae posterior to the anterior ocellus, basantra present, and tube shorter than the head, without lateral setae. Many species have high morphological diversity associated to size, wing-development and sex, which makes the distinction between species harder; and it is possible that many species in the genus will be identified as synonyms in the future.

Elaphrothrips gracilis is one of the few brazilian species in this genus with the head projection anterior to eyes longer than wide, together with E. amazonicus, E. nitidus and E. schotti. It is distinguished from E. amazonicus for its smaller size, reticulated pronotum, and a smaller amount of duplicated cilia on fore wings. However, E. gracilis and E. nitidus cannot be distinguished easily, and it is possible that E. gracilis represents the female and E. nitidus represents the male of the same species.

Distribution around the world

Described from Brazil.

Distribution in Brazil

http://fauna.jbrj.gov.br/fauna/faunadobrasil/26366 

Life history

Lives in dead leaves, where it feeds on fungal spores.

Economic importance

Not recorded.

Suggested references

Moulton D (1933) The Thysanoptera of South America IV. Revista de Entomologia 3: 385–419.

Palmer JM & Mound LA (1978) Nine genera of fungus-feeding Phlaeothripidae (Thysanoptera) from the Oriental Region. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). Entomology 37: 153-215.

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. 

Johansen RM (1983) El genero Elaphrothrips Buffa, 1909 (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae) en el continente Americano; su sistematica, evolucion, biogeografia y biologia. Monogr. Instituto de Biologia de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico 1: 1-267.