Teuchothrips

The genus Teuchothrips This genus is a member of the Liothrips -lineage (Mound & Marullo 1996), in which all species usually have a single sense cone on antennal segment III and three sense cones on segment IV. This condition is generally consistent among several hundred species of this lineage, whereas three of the five species currently listed in Teuchothrips from New Caledonia are here recognised as having the sense cone numbers irregular. Amongst these species one available female paratype of T. ornatus has two sense cones on segment III of one antenna (but not both), a condition that is likely to be an aberration. But segment IV of three available paratypes of T. ornatus bears two large sense cones, and a similar condition had been found on 14 males and one female of this species collected more recently (LAM5607). A similar condition was also observed on one male paratype of T. kraussi and one female paratype of T. noumeaensis. A further variation noted occurred on four females identified as T. ornatus (LAM5607) and one female paratype of T. noumeaensis; These five specimens each had two large sense cones on one antenna, but two large and one smaller sense cones on the other antenna. These variations from the typical condition amongst members of the Liothrips -lineage of three sense cones on antennal segment IV will need further consideration in the future. Detailed examination of both antennae on every individual specimen is needed to recognise this intraspecific variation in sense cone number, and the fact that it is recorded for so few species in the Liothrips -lineage may be due to lack of detailed study. Similar intraspecific variation in the number of antennal sense cones is recorded of some species of Deplorothrips in the Phlaeothrips -lineage (Mound & Tree 2016), and also of Karnyothrips flavipes in the Haplothripini (Okajima 2006). Finally, one of the species listed in Teuchothrips from New Caledonia, T. pacificus, has two large sense cones on both segments III and IV, and as discussed below this species is here transferred to the genus Neocecidothrips. The species included in Teuchothrips are closely similar in structure to species of Liothrips. The only recorded differentiating character states are that Teuchothrips species tend to have antennal segment VIII short and broadly based, and on the pronotum at least one of the five pairs of major setae is not elongate. In contrast, species of Liothrips have antennal segment VIII longer and constricted basally, and all five pairs of pronotal major setae are elongate (Mound 2008). With the transfer here of one species to Neocecidothrips there are 25 species listed under Teuchothrips (ThripsWiki 2021), including four from New Caledonia. Of the remaining species, 13 are known only from Australia, including the type species (Mound 2008). One species was described from New Guinea, two from Philippines, two from Java, two from Sri Lanka, and one from India. Each of the four species from New Caledonia is considered to be distinct from all of the species of Teuchothrips known from Australia, including many undescribed species in the collections at CSIRO, Canberra. This is not surprising, in view of the apparent specificity to particular plants by members of this genus.