Pseudanaphothrips frankstoni (Steele)

Pseudanaphothrips frankstoni (Steele) View in CoL

( Figs 3, 8 View FIGURES 1–9 , 16 View FIGURES 10–17 , 24, 25 View FIGURES 18–26 , 40, 31)

Isochaetothrips frankstoni Steele, 1940: 325 View in CoL .

Isochaetothrips pallidus Steele, 1940: 328 View in CoL . Syn. nov.

This species was based on eight females and one male that are all mounted onto a single slide ( Figs 1, 3 View FIGURES 1–9 ) – these were collected from Acacia sp. at Frankston, a southeastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. Similarly, the three female syntypes of P. pallidus View in CoL are mounted onto another single slide, and these were collected from Cassinia View in CoL at Kalorama, an eastern suburb of Melbourne ( Fig. 4 View FIGURES 1–9 ). There are also two females on slides with similar data in the NHM labelled as P. pallidus View in CoL . The fore wings of these five P. View in CoL pallidus specimens are only 430 microns long in contrast to the 560 microns of the P. frankstoni View in CoL syntypes (see the measurements and illustrations by Steele, 1940). Sakimura (1968) indicated that the syntypes of the two species differ in antennal segment lengths and proportions, but these differences are possibly related to the difference in fore wing length. All 12 syntypes of these two species are poorly preserved. They are squashed in a water-soluble mountant that has seriously deteriorated ( Fig1, 2 View FIGURES 1–9 ), and few structural details can be seen and recorded with any degree of certainty. As a result, P. pallidus View in CoL cannot be distinguished satisfactorily from P. frankstoni View in CoL and is therefore placed into synonymy.

Mound and Tree (2020) retained P. pallidus as distinct from P. frankstoni . However, the differences they noted were based, not on the syntypes, but on two long series of more recently collected specimens. These authors applied the name P. frankstoni to a series of specimens collected from the fronds of Dicksonia antarctica at Tidbinbilla near Canberra, with several specimens taken at the same locality from the flowers of Olearia and Bedfordia arborea ( Asteraceae ). These specimens generally have the following states: fore wings pale, metanotal striae close together or strongly convergent posteromedially ( Fig. 24 View FIGURES 18–26 ), and tergite VIII comb with median group of microtrichia very slightly convergent ( Fig. 30 View FIGURES 27–34 ). However, Mound and Tree (2020) suggest that the adults on Dicksonia fronds might have been overwintering on the fronds, after breeding in the flowers of Bedfordia shrubs that grow abundantly in that area. Three females and three males (in NHM) have been studied that are here identified as P. frankstoni . These were extracted from mist forest litter in southwestern Tasmania. The only other specimens that are here identified as P. frankstoni are almost all from southeastern Queensland, on plants around the car park at O’Reilly’s in Lamington National Park. These specimens, 30 females and one male, were taken from the flowers of Michelia and Pentaceras species, neither of which are members of Asteraceae .

The specimens to which Mound and Tree (2020) applied the name P. pallidus were all from leaves of Nothofagus cunninghamii in Tasmania with a few females from Warburton, 60km east of Melbourne. These specimens generally have the following states: fore wings slightly shaded, metanotal striae scarcely convergent posteromedially ( Fig. 25 View FIGURES 18–26 ), and tergite VIII comb with microtrichia evenly spaced ( Fig. 31 View FIGURES 27–34 ). These specimens from Nothofagus share similar metanotal sculpture with one syntype of P. pallidus . However, any decision that P. pallidus represents a different species from P. frankstoni would need to be based on more extensive studies, based on further collections in southern Victoria and Tasmania from Nothofagus and Dicksonia as well as various Asteraceae .

The species P. frankstoni is here interpreted as having females that are essentially yellow with antennal segments III–VIII largely brown. Abdominal segments IX–X are commonly light brown, and the head and pronotum often have a median transverse light brown area. The males have transversely oval pore plates ( Fig. 16 View FIGURES 10–17 ).