Body large. Head much longer than width across eyes, prolonged in front of eyes, usually shorter than broad except in one species about twice as long as broad; eyes normal or obviously prolonged on ventral surface; interocellar, postocellar, postocular, mid-dorsal and posterior-dorsal setae usually well developed, sometimes small. Maxillary stylets short and far apart. Antennae 8-segmented, very slender; segment III longest, usually more than twice width across eyes; segments III and IV with 2 and 4 sense-cones. Pronotum major setae usually well developed setae, sometimes aa small and epimeral accessory always minute; notopleural sutures incomplete; basantra and ferna present. Mesopraesternum boat-shaped. Metathoracic sternopleural sutures absent. Wings usually fully developed with or without numerous duplicated cilia. All legs normal, femora with several spine-setae. Pelta always broad, lateral lobes broadly joined to median major lobe; abdominal tergites II–VII each with two pairs of sigmoid wing-retaining setae; tergites V–VIII never with lateral tubercles; tube much longer than head, surface with numerous fine setae, sometimes with 2 rows of stout tubercles and many large and small tubercles or denticles on dorsal surface; anal setae much shorter than tube.

China (Zhejiang, Yunnan, Hainan); India, Nepal, Malaysia, Thailand.

The species of Meiothrips are presumed to all feed only on fungal-spores. In the field, Meiothrips natural populations with deposited egg masses have been observed only on newly-dead dry or withered leaves hanging on branches.

This genus is close to Idolothrips and Bactrothrips. The morphological characters of the females, and the head and thorax of males, are similar in the three genera. Mound and Palmer (1983) pointed out that the species are intermediate in structure between Idolothrips and Bactrothrips, such that each could be placed in a separate genus if the traditional concepts employed in the Bactrothrips complex were accepted. Meiothrips kurosawai is particularly unusual with the eye prolonged posteriorly on the ventral surface of the head, and a long preocular projection. The systematic position and relationships of these genera require further study.

Body uniformly dark brown; antennal segments I–II brown, III yellow but shaded in distal and near basal part, IV–V shaded but yellow in distal pedicels 0.3–0.4, VI–VIII brown; fore wings shaded with brown longitudinal band medially in basal half; femora dark brown but about basal 2/3 and extreme distal of hind femora yellow (Figs 7, 16), tarsi, distal half and extreme bases of tibiae yellow; tube dark brown; major setae yellowish.

Head 2.3 times as long as width across eyes, projecting in front of eyes, transversely striate; interocellar setae long, longer than width of one eye, one pair of postocellar setae about 1.7 times as long as diameter of posterior ocellus; eyes developed, about 0.4 of head length, postocular setae and one pair of postocular cheek setae similar with postocellar setae; mid-dorsal setae longest; cheeks with several pairs of minor setae. Maxillary stylets wide apart, retracted into head one fourth way to posterior margin of eyes (Figs 2, 13). Antennal segment III 2.2 times as long as head width across eyes (Figs 1, 13), III with 2 sensoria, IV with 4, V with 2, VI and VII each with one, these sensoria on III and IV about 2.0 times as long as apical width of segment, segments VI–VII with a short apical, ventral prolongation.

Pronotum smooth, anterior margin concave; three pairs of am, one pair almost as long as aa epima much shorter than one third of longest epim (Figs 3, 14); prosternal basantra around the tip of mouth-cone, ferna triangular. Mesopraesternum boat-shaped (Fig. 5). Metanotal median setae well developed, metanotum smooth on anterior third, with weak reticulate sculpture on posterior half (Figs 4, 15); metathoracic sternopleural sutures absent. Fore wings broad, with 42 duplicated cilia.

Pelta with reticulate sculpture slightly longitudinal (Figs 8, 15); abdominal segments VI–VIII without lateral tubercles (Fig. 9); tergite IX setae much shorter than tube; tube about 2.3 times as long as head, weakly constricted near apex, with about 20 pairs of stout tubercles and many small tubercles (Figs 10, 11, 17, 18), laterally with few weak setae. Sternites with irregular transverse row of discal setae, no pore plates.

Measurements (male in microns). Body length 8171. Head, length 787; width across eyes 342; interocellar setae 105, postocellar setae 62, diameter of posterior ocellus 36; postocular setae 63, postocular cheek setae 59; mid-dorsal setae 162. Antennal segments III–VIII length (maximum width), 758 (51), 437 (49), 379 (48), 306 (35), 83 (29), 89 (18), sensoria of segment III length 101. Pronotum length (maximum width) 336 (553); setae length, am 68, aa 67, ml 75, epim 190, epima 26, pa 109, pm 24. Metanotal median setae length 288. Pelta length 191, width 568. Tergite IX setae S1 141, S2 130. Tube length 1876, stout tubercles length 50, anal setae length 337.

Similar to male but larger. Tube smooth with many prominent lateral setae (Figs 12, 19).

Measurements (female in microns). Body length 8864. Head, length 779; width across eyes 344; interocellar setae 102, postocellar setae 64, diameter of posterior ocellus 35; postocular setae 88, postocular cheek setae 77; mid-dorsal setae 134. Antennal segments III–VIII length (maximum width), 748 (47), 444 (52), 367 (48), 292 (41), 94 (31), 98 (27), sensoria of segment III length 90. Pronotum length (maximum width) 304 (546); setae length, am 51, aa 63, ml ?, epim 185, epima 50, pa 142. Metanotum median setae length 304. Pelta length 189, width 667. Tergite IX setae S1 255, S2 320. Tube length 1913, anal setae length 367.

. Holotype male: China, Yunnan province, coll. M.Y. Lin by shaking withered tree leaves, 7.x.2010 (slides No.JM10058-9). Paratypes: 6 females and 1 male, data as for holotype (slides Nos. JM10058-1, JM10058-5, JM10058-7, JM10058-13, JM10058-15, JM10058-16, JM10058-17).

This species is similar to Meiothrips nepalensis in that the tube of males bears about two rows of stout tubercles also many small tubercles. But the new species can be distinguished by the following characters: fore and mid-femora uniformly dark brown, only hind femora bicolored with about basal 2/3 and extreme distal parts yellow (nepalensis: fore femora uniformly dark brown, mid- and hind femora bicolored with about basal half yellow and apical half dark brown), pronotal am and aa setae about 0.3 times as long as epim setae (nepalensis: am and aa minute, much less than 0.3 times as long as epim).

This species name is composed of two Latin words, “fuscus (= brown)” and “crus (= leg)”, based on mid-femora uniformly dark brown.

We received two sequences of the new species, which include 673bp and 647bp with the GenBank numbers JQ411299 and JQ411300, respectively.

8 females and 15 males: China, Yunnan Province, coll. Y.F. Han from withered tree leaves, 17–20.xi.1988 (slides Nos. 14214–14222, 14399), and 27.iii–22.iv.1997 (slides Nos. 21026–21033, 22279, 22795–22796, 22443); 1 male: China, Hainan Province, coll. W.Q. Zhang from withered tree leaves, 5.iv.1984.

China (Yunnan, Hainan); India, Thailand, Malaysia.

This species is mainly distributed in South Asia. It was described originally from India by Ananthakrishnan (1964) from only one female. The specimens in this study are very similar to the original description, but the mid- and hind tibiae are similar to specimens from Malaysia and Thailand with a dark brown sub-basal mark and a narrow paler brown subapically. Palmer and Mound (1978) discussed the differences of the specimens from India, Malaysia and Thailand. The specimens in this study with long and pale pronotal major setae and head setae are more similar to the Indian specimens than the specimens from Malaysia and Thailand with short and dark setae, although specimens from Thailand have long pronotal pa and am. Further studies are needed combining the morphological and molecular evidence.

1 female and 2 males: China, Yunnan province, coll. M.Y. Lin by shaking withered tree leaves, 7.x.2010 (slides numbers, JM10058-4, JM10058-8, JM10058-12).

China (Yunnan); Nepal, Thailand.

It includes 659bp with the GenBank number JQ411298.

This species is known from Nepal (Kudo and Ananthakrishnan 1974) and Thailand (Palmer and Mound 1978), and is here recorded from China for the first time. The remarkable structure of this species is that the tube of the male bears two rows of stout tubercles and numerous small and large tubercles. Idolothrips dissimilis from Australia also shows similar structures.