Female macropterous; body color mainly dark brown, with the joints between femora and tibia and all tarsi pale; antennomere I dark brown, II brown with yellow apex, III brown with yellow pedicel, IV–VIII dark brown; wings pale brown, darker basally and along median line. Antennae 8-segmented, antennomere III with 2 and IV with 4 sense cones. Head longer than wide, dorsal surface with weak transverse lines of sculpture; postocular setae longer than eyes, remaining head setae short; maxillary stylets V-shaped, a little over 1/3 of head width apart. Pronotum with 5 pairs of well-developed setae, epimeral and posteroangular setae longer than the others. Metanotum with one pair of short but robust median setae. Metathoracic sternopleural sutures present. Pelta broad, with basal wings; abdominal tergites II–VII with 1 pair of straight wing-retaining setae. Tube cone-shaped, about 2.1x as long as basal width, with few minute setae laterally. All legs similar in appearance, fore tarsi with a tooth. Fore wings with about 10 duplicated cilia.
Male not studied.
Intraspecific variation
Unknown.
Genus and similar species information
Neosmerinthothrips is a genus with 24 species, occurring in the tropics and Australia. The species have well developed metathoracic sternopleural sutures, and a robust tube with convex margins, comparable to those seen in Acallurothrips and Pygothrips species. Neosmerinthothrips is differentiated from Acallurothrips for having antennomeres VII and VIII clearly distinct from each other and the tube not as strongly swollen, and from Pygothrips for having the maxillary stylets far apart and V-shaped. Neosmerinthothrips annulipes is very similar to N. picticornis and N. variipes, and these three species are differentiated mainly by the coloration of the basal antennomeres: I concolorous with head in N. annulipes and N. variipes, lighter than head in N. picticornis; II brown with yellow apex in N. annulipes, mainly yellow in N. variipes. A key to some species of Neosmerinthothrips, including most of the ones recorded in Brazil, is available in Mound (1974).
Distribution around the world
Described from Brazil and recorded from Argentina.
