Plicothrips Bhatti, 1979

Plicothrips Bhatti View in CoL

The old-world genus Plicothrips comprises two species worldwide (ThripsWiki 2023), with P. cameroni known only from Sudan, and P. apicalis widespread in Oriental and Palearctic regions. The genus has all the characters of subgenus Haplothrips (Trybomiella) , but is separated based on presence of only one pair of wing-retaining setae on abdominal tergites III–VI rather than two as in Haplothrips , and the fore wing is weakly constricted medially and lacks duplicated cilia. However, variation was observed among individuals of P. apicalis in the number of wing-retaining setae on the tergites. From Saudi Arabia, 42 specimens have been observed. Most of the individuals have only the second pair of wing-retaining setae developed, but a few individuals were also found with both pairs of wing-retaining setae developed on tergite III–VII. These observations agree with those of Dang et al. (2014). The species may be an unusual member of Haplothrips , but due to lack of P. cameroni further investigations are not possible.