Elaphrothrips unicolor Moulton, 1933: 415.

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_unicolor 

Diagnosis

Female macropterous; body color uniformly dark brown, including legs and antennae; only the joints between segments in the legs or antennae are slightly paler; wings yellowish, base and median line brown. Antennae 8-segmented, antennomere III with 2 and IV with 4 sense cones, III much longer than the other segments. Head longer than wide, slightly constricted behind eyes, and weakly projected ahead of eyes; dorsal surface with two pairs of long setae (ocellar and postocular), remaining dorsal setae short; cheeks with stout and short setae; eyes large, not projected ventrally; maxillary stylets parallel to each other, about 1/3 of head width apart, extending to half of the distance between posterior margin of eyes and base of head. Pronotum with 5 pairs of well-developed setae, epimeral and posteroangular pairs the longest; prosternal basantra present. Metanotum reticulated, with one pair of short median setae. Metathoracic sternopleural sutures absent. Pelta reticulated, triangular and broad, basal angles curved upwards. Abdomen sculptured, tergites II–VII with 2 pairs of wing-retaining setae and several smaller accessory setae; major posteromarginal setae on abdominal tergite IX longer than tube. Tube cone-shaped, about 2.4x as long as basal width, without lateral setae. Fore legs stout, with many setae, fore tarsi with a small tooth. Fore wings with around 40–50 duplicated cilia.

Male similar to female, but slightly larger; fore legs with a well-developed tarsal tooth.

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 unicolor is distinguished from the other brazilian species in the genus for having an elongated and curved setae at the apex of fore femora; females with a small tarsal tooth; and pelta eroded anterolaterally, with the median area almost separated from the small lateral projections.

Distribution around the world

Described from Brazil.

Distribution in Brazil

http://fauna.jbrj.gov.br/fauna/faunadobrasil/61807

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.