Austrothrips Brethes

Austrothrips Brethes, 1915: 89 . Type species: Austrothrips verae Brethes, by monotypy.

This genus was erected for a single species from Argentina. This species appears never to have been studied by any other worker, and the genus remains inadequately defined and effectively unknown. Despite this, three further species have been described in the genus, one from Fiji, one from New Guinea, and one from Thailand. One male syntype of the latter species, cochinchinensis Karny (1922b), has been studied, together with two females that appear to be the same species from Calycopteris floribunda galls in southern India. None of these specimens is in a satisfactory condition for detailed study, but there appear to be two sensoria on antennal segments III and IV, and the mesopresternum is transverse but slender. The maxillary stylets are deeply retracted and less than one third of the head width apart, but antennal segment VIII is long and slender. This species is possibly related to Prosantothrips and to some of the species placed in Eothrips .