Haplothrips tenuipennis Bagnall

Haplothrips tenuipennis Bagnall, 1918: 210

Haplothrips ceylonicus var. mangiferae Priesner, 1933: 359 syn.n.

Syntypes of this species from northern India have been studied and compared to a female paratype of H. ceylonicus var. mangiferae from Java, Semarang, in Mangifera flowers, 25.viii.1912. Females of these two species cannot be distinguished from each other, and this synonymy was first established by Mound (1968). However, Bhatti (1995: 105) rejected this synonymy with the statement “ mangiferae is readily distinguishable from that species [= H. tenuipennis] by the shape of pseudovirga”. Unfortunately, no published illustrations of the male genitalia of either species seems to have been published, and it has not proved possible to confirm Bhatti’s opinion. Based on females, the name H. mangiferae is therefore here returned to synonymy. As with so many other species described from the Indian subcontinent, the identity of H. ceylonicus Schmutz from Sri Lanka remains unclear and will require further study. Moreover, a further species, H. nipponicus Okajima, that is said to be common in Japan (Okajima 2006), is not distinguishable from H. tenuipennis based on character states given in its description. In general appearance, H. tenuipennis is similar to members of the H. anceps group of species with which it shares the dark pronotal major setae, but it is distinguished by the presence of a small slender sense cone on the inner margin of antennal segment III that is not developed in either of the other two species.