Plesiothrips

Female and male of Plesiothrips perplexus, from CSIRO.

Belongs within: Thripidae.

Plesiothrips is a genus of thrips living on grasses, characterised by a weak ovipositor in the females (Mound & Marullo 1996). Most species of the genus are native to the Americas, with Plesiothrips perplexus widespread in tropical and subtropical regions around the world.

Characters (from Mound & Marullo 1996): Head with ocellar setae I absent. Antennal segment I with pair of well developed dorsal apical setae; females with segment III smaller than IV; males with segment III very small, IV–VI greatly enlarged. Abdominal tergites sometimes with pair of weakly developed ctenidia. Ovipositor very weak, lacking marginal serrations.

<==Plesiothrips Hood 1915 MM96
    |--*P. perplexus (Beach 1897) [=Sericothrips perplexa] MM96
    |--P. aberrans (Crawford 1941) [=Taeniothrips aberrans] MM96
    |--P. aczeli De Santis 1959 MM96
    |--P. amblycauda Hood 1925 MM96
    |--P. andropogoni Watts 1934 [incl. P. watsoni Watts 1934] MM96
    |--P. ayarsi Stannard 1957 MM96
    |--P. brunneus Hood 1936 [incl. P. fawcetti Morison 1937] MM96
    |--P. frequens (Moulton 1938) [=Thrips frequens] MM96
    |--P. longicollis Hood 1954 MM96
    |--P. maculosus Hood 1954 MM96
    |--P. o Girault 1929 G29b
    |--P. octarthrus Hood 1925 MM96
    |--P. pallidipennis Hood 1957 MM96
    |--P. panicus (Moulton 1929) [=Thrips panicus] MM96
    |--P. pulcher Girault 1929 G29a
    |--P. sakagamii Kudo 1974 MM96
    |--P. sculpticollis Hood 1950 MM96
    |--P. setiventris Hood 1950 MM96
    |--P. tricolor Johansen 1976 MM96
    |--P. typhae Hood 1940 MM96
    |--P. verticalis Hood 1940 MM96
    `--P. williamsi Hood 1940 MM96

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[G29a] Girault, A. A. 1929a. Description of a case of lunacy in Homo and of six-legged articulates. Privately published (reprinted Gordh, G., A. S. Menke, E. C. Dahms & J. C. Hall. 1979. The privately printed papers of A. A. Girault. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 28: 262-265).

[G29b] Girault, A. A. 1929b. New pests from Australia. VI. Privately published (reprinted Gordh, G., A. S. Menke, E. C. Dahms & J. C. Hall. 1979. The privately printed papers of A. A. Girault. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 28: 266-269).

[MM96] Mound, L. A., & R. Marullo. 1996. The thrips of Central and South America: an introduction (Insecta: Thysanoptera). Memoirs on Entomology, International 6: 1-487.