Teuchothrips longiseta Girault

Teuchothrips longiseta (Girault)

Horistothrips longiseta Girault, 1926: 1

Teuchothrips longiseta (Girault); Mound & Houston, 1987: 18

The original description was: “As aerispilus [sic] but distal bristles abdomen pale, postoculars closer to margin, 2 small setae between posterior bristles prothorax. Males ex twig galls Acacia linifolia, Brisbane, Tryon. ” Girault left two slides of this species, bearing a total of about 24 individuals. These syntypes have been compared with a series of both sexes collected in 1962 from galls on a Melaleuca species at Brisbane.

The chaetotaxy and body sculpture are remarkably similar to that of froggatti, but the number of forewing duplicated cilia ranges from 8 to 11. In contrast, the single known macroptera of froggatti has no duplicated cilia on the forewings, and this suggests that these are not the same species. The head is short and reticulate in longiseta, with the stylets retracted to the compound eyes and touching medially. Antennal segment III bears one sensorium, and segment IV bears 2+1 sensoria. In both sexes the fore tarsal tooth is long and slender, and the fore tibia does not bear a tubercle. Tergite IX setae S1 are finely acute and as long as the tube, but the S2 setae in males are shorter and capitate. The tube is longer than the head. As in froggatti, the male apparently has no glandular area on the eighth sternite.