Ectoparasitism and Phoresy in Thysanoptera: The case of Aulacothrips dictyotus (Heterothripidae) in the Neotropical savanna

摘要

Thrips are cosmopolitan and abundant insects with great diversity in the Neotropics, but taxonomic and crop pest aspects comprise almost all of our knowledge of these insects. Here we describe a unique case of an ectoparasite species, Aulacothrips dictyotus Hood (Heterothripidae), which infests and also uses as dispersal vector (phoresy behaviour) the hemipteran Enchenopa brasiliensis (Membracidae). Thrips fix themselves on the ventral region of their hosts, at the junction of thorax and abdomen. Phoresy takes place when the attached thrips are transported to other plants and/or host aggregations. Phoresy is a useful long range dispersal mechanism for this weakly flying thrip species. Out of the 6000 species of thrips described, most are phytophagous and fungivorous, and only A. dictyotus performs ectoparasitism and phoretic behaviour.