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Hercinothrips femoralis
Fig. 1

Antenna

Fig. 2

Head

Fig. 3

Pronotum

Fig. 4

Pteronotum

Fig. 5

Wings

Fig. 6

Base of wings

Fig. 7

Tergites 3-4

Fig. 8

Tergites 8-9

Fig. 9

CS249/CS250

Fig. 10

O1/18J

Fig. 11

P1/28Z

Fig. 12

18SMP/28SMP

Figures

Fig. 1: Antenna (inset: V. - VIII. antennal segment)
Fig. 2: Head dorsal with ocellar triangle
Fig. 3: Pronotum
Fig. 4: Meso- and metanotum
Fig. 5: Fore- and hindwing
Fig. 6: Base of fore and hindwing
Fig. 7: Tergites III and IV
Fig. 8: Tergites VIII and IX

ITS-RFLP gel patterns (1&8 ladder, 2 PCR-product, 3 RSAI, 4 HaeIII, 5 MspI, 6 HinfI, 7 AluI)
Fig. 9: Primer pair CS249/CS250
Fig. 10: Primer pair O1/18J
Fig. 11: Primer pair P1/28Z
Fig. 12: Primer pair 18SMP/28SMP

Taxonomic Information

Species:
Hercinothrips femoralis (Reuter, 1891)

Synonyms:
Heliothrips apicalis Bondar, 1931
Heliothrips cestri Pergande, 1895
Heliothrips femoralis Reuter, 1891

Common name:
Banded greenhouse thrips

Present taxonomic position:
Family: Thripidae Stephens, 1829
Subfamily: Panchaetothripinae Bagnall, 1912
Genus: Hercinothrips Bagnall, 1932

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Species Recognition

General information about the genus Hercinothrips:
The are nine members in this genus all of which are dark brown, characters that define the Hercinothrips genus include with eight antennal segments, segments III and IV having a simple sense cones, and the forewings are banded and narrow. These are the only members in the Helio-Calio-Hercinothrips group, subfamily Heliothripini, which maintain a two-segmented tarsus.

Typical character states of Hercinothrips femoralis:

Body color
Mainly brown

Antennae
Number of antennal segments: 8
Segment IV - forked sensorium: extending to a point at least 30% distal to base of segment V
Segments III & IV sensoria: emergent and forked
Terminal antennal segments: very long, needle like

Head:
Head shape between compound eyes: not prolonged
Sculptured reticles on head and pronotum: with no internal markings
Surface of head, pronotum and fore legs: with strong reticulate sculpture, but sometimes irregular
Head posteriorly: constricted

Prothorax
Number of pairs of elongate pronotal setae: 0-3
Number of pairs of elongate posteroangular pronotal setae: 0
Pronotum: with complex sculpture - with faint sculpture
Prosternal basantra: absent - present Pronotum shape: rectangular
Sculptur of pronotum: without transverse striate sculpture

Mesothorax
Mesothoracic endofurca: without median spinula

Metathorax
Metanotum: without campaniform sensilla
Metanotum major sclerite: with two major sclerites, metascutum and metascutellum
Metanotum median area: with at least some equiangular reticulation
Metanotum sculpture: without dominant sculptured triangle medially
Metathoracic endofurca: elongate and Y-shaped

Wings
Wings: present and more than half as long as abdomen
First vein of forewing: close to or fused to costal vein
Forewing anterior margin: with setae and cilia but cilia longer than setae
Forewing color: alternating bands of dark and light
Forewing costal setae at middle of wing: longer than median width of wing
Forewing first vein setal row: complete, with setae closely and uniformly spaced
Forewing posterior margin cilia: undulated near apex
Forewing second vein setal row: complete, with setae closely and uniformly spaced
Forewing surface: not reticulate
Forewings: with veins, setae and microtrichia

Legs
Mid and hind tarsi: with two segments

Abdomen:
Abdominal segment X: never tubular, longitudinally incomplete ventrally in both sexes
Abdominal tergites: without curved wing-retaining setae
Abdominal tergites IV & V median setal pair: much shorter than distance between their bases
Setae on abdominal tergite X: slender
Tergite VIII posteromarginal comb of microtrichia: present laterally, incomplete medially

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Biology

Life history:
As with other thrips species the life cycle from egg to adult is dependent on temperature. The full cycle can take about 15 days (Lewis, 1973) to over a month and adults may live for more than one month producing several generations in one year depending on seasonal weather. With greenhouse temperatures the developmental time from egg to adult can decrease to about one week.

Host plants:
Banana, coconut, calla lily, Ficus spp., orchids, several crops

Vector capacity:
None identified

Current known distribution:
Africa, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Central and South America, Europe, North America

Additional notes:
This species is polyphagous feeding primarily on the leaves of a high number of plant species. It is a minor pest of greenhouse plants in temperate regions and has been recorded as a pest on bananas.

Bibliography

Bailey, SF (1957): The thrips of California Part I: Suborder Terebrantia. Bulletin of the California Insect Survey 4, no. 5: 143-220.
Houston, KJ, Mound, LA & Palmer, JM (1991): 2 pest thrips (Thysanoptera) new to Australia, with notes on the distribution and structural variation of other species. - Journal of the Australian Entomological Society 30: 231-232.
Koch, F (1981): The circadian phototactic behavior of Hercinothrips femoralis (OM Reuter 1891) (Thysanoptera, Insecta). - Zoologische Jahrbuecher-Abteilung fuer Allgemeine Zoologie und Physiologie der Tiere 85 (3): 312-315.
Koch, F (1981): Notes on the circadian behavior of sugar-beet thrips (Hercinothrips femoralis, OM Reuter 1891) (Thysanoptera, Insecta). - Zoologische Jahrbucher-Abteilung Fur Allgemeine Zoologie Und Physiologie Der Tiere 85 (4): 462-473.
Lewis, T (1973): Thrips their biology, ecology and economic importance. Academic Press Inc., London Ltd. 349 pp.
Moritz, G (1983): Zur Kenntnis des Gewaechshausblasenfusses Hercinothrips femoralis (OM Reuter 1891) als fakultativem Gallenerzeuger. - Arch. Phytopathol. Pflanzensch. 19: 417-418.
Moritz, G (1984): Differenzierungsformen der imaginalen Bauchganglienkette bei Thysanoptera (Insecta). - Entomol. Nachr. Ber. 28: 27-29.
Moritz, G (1984): Zum Vorkommen einer exokrinen Vertexdruese bei den Maennchen der Gattung Merothrips Hood, 1914 (Merothripidae, Thysanoptera). - Zool. Jb. Anat. 111: 1-13.
Moritz, G (1985): Mikromorphologische Chitinstrukturen als Plastronbildner bei terrestrisch lebenden Thysanopteren (Insecta). - Biol. Rdsch. 23: 161-170.
Moritz, G (1985): Peritricha (Ciliata) als Symphorionten auf dem Tarothrips Organothrips bianchii Hood, 1940 (Thysanoptera, Insecta). - Biol. Rdsch. 23: 371-375.
Moritz, G (1988): On the Genesis of the Wings and the Wing Musculature of Hercinothrips femoralis (OM Reuter 1891) (Thysanoptera, Insecta). - Acta Phytopathologica et Entomologica Hungarica 23 (3-4): 313-319.
Moritz, G (1988): The ontogenesis of Thysanoptera (Insecta) with special reference to the Panchaetothripine Hercinothrips femoralis (OM Reuter 1891)(Thysanoptera, Thripidae, Panchaetothripinae) - I. Embryogenesis. Zool. Jb. Anat. 117: 1-64.
Moritz, G (1988): The ontogenesis of Thysanoptera (Insecta) with special reference to the Panchaetothripine Hercinothrips femoralis (OM Reuter 1891)(Thysanoptera, Thripidae, Panchaetothripinae) - II. First- and second-stage larva. - Zool. Jb. Anat. 117: 299-351.
Moritz, G (1988): On the genesis of the wings and the wing musculature of Hercinothrips femoralis (OM Reuter 1891) (Thysanoptera, Insecta). - Acta Phytopathologica et Entomologica Hungarica 23: 313-319.
Moritz, G (1989): The ontogenesis of Thysanoptera (Insecta) with special reference to the Panchaetothripine Hercinothrips femoralis (OM Reuter 1891)(Thysanoptera, Thripidae, Panchaetothripinae) - III. Prepupa and Pupa. - Zool. Jb. Anat. 118: 15-54.
Moritz, G (1989): The ontogenesis of Thysanoptera (Insecta) with special reference to the Panchaetothripine Hercinothrips femoralis (OM Reuter 1891)(Thysanoptera, Thripidae, Panchaetothripinae) - Imago - Head. Zool. Jb. Anat. 118: 273-307.
Moritz, G (1989): The ontogenesis of Thysanoptera (Insecta) with special reference to the Panchaetothripine Hercinothrips femoralis (OM Reuter 1891)(Thysanoptera, Thripidae, Panchaetothripinae) - Imago - Abdomen. Zool. Jb. Anat. 119: 157-217.
Moritz G, Morris DC, Mound LA (2001): ThripsID - Pest thrips of the world. ACIAR and CSIRO Publishing Collingwood, Victoria, Australia, CDROM ISBN 1 86320 296 X.
Moritz G, Mound LA, Morris DC, Goldarazena A (2004):
Pest thrips of the world - an identification and information system using molecular and microscopial methods. CBIT, University of Queensland,CDROM ISBN 1-86499-781-8.
Mound, LA & Kibby, G (1998): Thysanoptera: An identification guide,  (2nd edition). CAB International, Wallingford and New York, 70pp.
Mound, LA & Marullo, R (1996): The thrips of Central and South America: An Introduction (Insecta: Thysanoptera). Associated Publishers, Gainesville.
Pintureau, B, Lassabliere, F, Khatchadourian, C & Daumal, J (1999): Eggs parasitoids and symbionts of two European Thrips. - Annales De La Societe Entomologique De France 35: 416-420.
Roditakis, E, Mound, LA & Roditakis, NE (2006): First record in Crete of Hercinothrips femoralis in greenhouse banana plantations. - Phytoparasitica 34 (5): 488-490.
Stannard, LJ (1968): The thrips, or Thysanoptera, of Illinois. Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin 29: 215-552.
Wilson, TH (1975): A monograph of the subfamily Panchaetothripinae (Thysanoptera: Thripidae). Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 23: 1-354.

Links:
Mound, LA (2005): Thysanoptera (Thrips) of the World - A Checklist. http://www.ento.csiro.au/thysanoptera/worldthrips.html

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