﻿170 POMONA COLLEGE JOURNAL OF ENTOMOLOGY 



tube fully three-fourths as long as head, slender, slightly converging toward 

 tip ; with several long, stout bristles at tip. 



Measurements: Head, length .68 mm., width .26 mm.; prothorax, length 

 .29 mm., width, including coxae, .56 mm. ; mesothorax, width .67 nmi. ; abdo- 

 men, width .82 mm.; tube, length .53 mm., width at base .11 mm.; total length 

 5.28 mm. (4.32 — 6.24 mm.) Antenna;: I, .074 mm.; II, .072 mm.; Ill, .22 

 mm.; IV, .17 mm.; \, .15 mm.; \'I, .12 mm.; \ II, .075 mm.; \'III, .065 mm.; 

 total .94 mm. 



]\Iales fully as large as females, sometimes larger ; antennae somewhat 

 longer; forefemora (Fig. 70 G) with a long curved, prehensile spine at tip, 

 within ; foretarsi ( Fig. 70 C ) with an exceptionally long, stout tooth near base, 

 within, and another smaller, curved one at tip ; with a partial fringe of spines 

 at tip of second tarsal segment ; bladder of foreleg easily retractile, probably 

 to facilitate the use of apical tooth. Abdomen very slender, much more so than 

 in female; tube and anal spines distinctly shorter than in female. 



Described from fifteen females and seventeen males, taken, mostly, in 

 sweepings of various tropical shrubbery; some were found by the w^-iter on 

 the under surface of leaves of a common tropical vine. 



Localities: Belize (James D. Johnson); Havana, Cuba (C. F. Baker); 

 San Marcos and Chinandega, Nicaragua (C. F. Baker j, and Guadalajara, 

 Alex. (Crawford). 



This giant species is well distributed throughout the American tropics ; 

 the specimens in the writer's collection, from these various localities, are al- 

 most identical in every respect. There are minor variations, however, such 

 as a difference in the relative length of the third antennal segment; the illus- 

 tration (Fig. 70 C) represents the average. The spines on the legs and abdo- 

 men, also show a variation in length and color, some being black, others light, 

 and still others of intermediate shades. 



This species resembles Megalothrips ( ?) spinosus Hood (really an Idolo- 

 thrips), but differs in the arrangement of the cephalic and prothoracic spines, 

 the shape of the head anteriorly, and, in general, in the relative proportions ; 

 because of this resemblance and its resemblance to still other members of the 

 genus Idolothrips, it would seem reasonable to refer this to Idolothrips 

 spinosus. In all probability, the males of /. spinosus will be found to have 

 a large tarsal tooth, just as the males of /. aiii^usticeps have a larger tooth than 

 the female. 



