Ecacanthothrips moundi Okajima

(Figs 12–13, 102–110)

Ecacanthothrips moundi Okajima, 2006: 245–247.

E. moundi was described from the Okinawa-Amami group of Islands, the Ryukyu Islands, southern Japan, and included in the inarmatus -group. It is somewhat similar to leai, but can be distinguished by the following features: body larger, 3.2–3.9mm in female, 2.5–4.3mm in male; head (Figs 102 & 103) longer, 1.3–1.5 times as long as wide in female, 1.50–1.95 times in male (about 1.3 times as long as wide even in large male in leai); cheeks weakly constricted behind eyes; antennal segment V slender, with a distinct apical neck. Moreover, in large male, pronotal anteromarginal setae are elongated in moundi, whereas they are not elongate in leai. The colour of mid and hind tibiae is variable in the type series of moundi, usually brownish, but often yellowish in the male. A series of females and males listed below collected from northern Vietnam could probably be identified as this species, but they have some small differences. They have the mid and hind tibiae clear yellow and the antennal segment V longer and more slender, usually longer than segment IV. However, most other character states are indistinguishable from the type series. Another species described from Japan, E. inarmatus, is also very similar to this species, but moundi can be distinguished by the following features: body uniformly dark brown; antennal segment III darker, dark brown; hind tibiae variable in colour, yellow to brown, at least not darker than femora; pronotal anteromarginal setae elongate in large male, almost as long as anteroangulars or a little longer (inarmatus also has elongate anteromarginal setae in large male, but much shorter than anteroangulars). In contrast to the uniformly dark brown body of moundi, inarmatus is slightly bicoloured with head, thorax and anterior abdominal segments paler, tinged with orange yellow when alive (see p. 53 in Okajima & Masumoto, 2022). These two species have allopatric distribution, moundi known only from the subtropical Ryukyu Islands, whereas inarmatus ocurs in the temperate region (Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu, and those dependent islands) and Guangdong, China (Han 1997). One small male listed below from Thailand is very similar to the smallest male from Vietnam, but it has intermediate antennal segments somewhat shorter.

Specimens examined. Japan, Ryukyu Islands, holotype female and paratype 3 females and 2 males from Okinawa Is., 1 female and 1 male from Amami-ohshima Is. (data described in Okajima, 2006). Vietnam, Lao Cai Province, Sa Pa, 13 females and 8 males, on dead leaves and branches, 6.viii.2000, SO. Thailand, Doi Suthep, 1100m alt., 1 male, on dead leaves, 11.vii.1976, SO.