PROCEEDINGS, 1020 7 



NOTES ON THE AEOLOTHRIPIDAE {2) 



B_\- R. C. Trehcrne, Entomologist in Charge for British Columbia 

 Dominion Department of Agriculture 



In a previous issue of our Proceedings (No. 12, February, 1918), I 

 gave the Society certain suggestions on this group of Thysanoptera 

 which were intended to assist beginners meeting with members of this 

 group for the first time. In this present paper I wish to extend the 

 information further by dwelling on certain life history and habit notes 

 and by presenting a catalogue on certain of the genera and species. 



It would appear that the life histories and habits of the several 

 species of iVeolothripidae are not known with a great degree of exacti- 

 tude. .\dults are recorded to be "on the foliage of," "on" or "i)i the flozvers 

 of" certain plants, with- little to indicate their feeding habits. C. B. 

 Williams, in the Annals of Applied Biology 1 :240:1915, reports fasciatus 

 the type of the genus Aeolothrips, common in England o/i peas and 

 beans, as "partly carnivorous but also feeds on pollen and plant juices." 

 It is my belief that Thysanopterists regard the Aeolothrips as predacious 

 in their primary functions, but concede that they are also phytophagus. 

 J. R. Watson in Florida, referring to the "black and white" cereal thrips 

 (Aeolothrips bicolor), states that this species is "often abundant on 

 oats in spring and damages them materially." With my own species, 

 Ae. auricestus, I have failed to determine its exact feeding habits but 

 from its numbers in clumps of Elymus condensatus and from certain 

 peculiar decolored areas in the leaves, I am inclined to think it is 

 phytophagus. 



The mouth parts of thrips have been discussed on many occasions 

 by man}- writers, and several authors have used Aeolothrips upon which 

 to base their discussions. Garman, Uzel and Comstock have contri- 

 buted in this connection, and from what I can gather, while there has 

 been a slight difference of opinions in the placing and naming of certain 

 organs of the mouth, the view is generally held that "the mouth parts 

 are chiefly used for sucking but intermediate in form between those 

 lA the sucking and those of the biting insects." 



The predacious habits of several members of Ibis family are 

 undoubted, in view of more recent observations. In British Columbia 

 Ae. fasciatus may l)e frequently found in association with swarms of 

 Frankliniella tritici in the flower heads of plants; Ae. annectans has 

 also occurred in sufficient numbers with Thrips tabaci on onion foliage 

 to leave little doubt, although, unfortunately, it has not as yet been 

 proven, that they are carnivorous. Watson, in Florida, has observed 

 that Ae. floridensis is invariably found in association with other species, 

 although he draws no conclusions from this occurrence. C. B. Williams, 

 in "The Entomologist" 49:277:1916, has the following to say on the 



