Original reference: Giard A (1901) Sur un thrips (Physopus rubrocincta nov. sp.) nuisible au Cacaoyer. Bulletin de la Société Entomologique de France 15: 263–265.
Body dark brown; tarsi yellow and tibiae mainly brown; antennal segments III & V yellow in basal half, IV yellow at base and apex; fore wing dark brown. Head strongly sculptured and strongly constricted basally; ocellar region swollen and with one pair of long setae. Antennae 8-segmented, III & IV with forked sense cones. Pronotum transverse and sculptured, one pair of long anteromarginal setae. Mesothoracic endofurca without spinula and metathoracic endofurca with long curved paired arms extending to mesothorax. Metanotum forming a bold triangle medially enclosing transverse reticulation; paired campaniform sensilla present; one pair of long setae medially. Tarsi 1-segmented. Fore wing with costal cilia longer than costal setae; first and second veins of setae essentially complete. Abdominal tergites reticulate on lateral areas; III–VIII with a pair of long discal setae medially; VIII with complete comb of long microtrichia; X without longitudinal division. Sternites with craspedum and long posteromarginal setae. Both sexes winged.
Male sternites III–VII with small oval pore plates on anterior margin; tergite IX with three pairs of stout thorn-like setae.
Intraspecific variation
Brown marking on median portion of antennal segment IV sometimes not distinguishable.
Genus and similar species information
Selenothrips includes only this single species and is closely related to the monotypic African genus Xestothrips, although this last lacks sculpture on the head and pronotum. Selenothrips rubrocinctus has a remarkable morphology in having the head constricted to a basal neck and dark forewings that bear two rows of long black setae (Mound & Marullo 1996). Selenothrips rubrocinctus also resembles the Neotropical Brachyurothripsanomalus in general appearance, and both have similar head format and long dark setae on the fore wings. However, B. anomalus can be distinguished by the simple sensoria on antennal segments III & IV and the lack of ocellar setae pairs I & II.
World distribution
Possibly originated from Africa, it is now widespread to tropical countries in all continents.
Breeding on the leaves of several unrelated plant species. It is commonly named as the “cocoa thrips” or “red banded thrips”, because of the colour of the I & II abdominal segments of the second instar larvae. In Brazil, larvae and adults are commonly collected in cocoa, Eucalyptus and Inga.
Economic importance
Damaging leaves of many cultivated plants as banana, cocoa, Eucalyptus and mango.
References suggested
Mound LA & Marullo R (1996) The Thrips of Central and South America: An Introduction. Memoirs on Entomology, International 6: 1–488.
Wilson TH (1975) A monograph of the subfamily Panchaetothripinae (Thysanoptera: Thripidae). Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 23: 1–354.
