Systematic relationships of Vuilletia and Senegathrips (Thysanoptera, Phlaeothripinae) from galls on the West African shrub Guiera senegalensis.

Widespread and common across much of the drier areas of western Africa, the woody shrub Guiera senegalensis (Combretaceae) is the sole member of its genus. Similarly widespread is Vuilletia houardi, a thrips species that induces galls on this shrub, and is recorded from Mali, Senegal, Gambia and northern Nigeria (Pitkin & Mound 1973). Moreover, large numbers of galls, together with their included thrips, have now been studied from Burkina Faso. Some galls (Figs 1, 2) are invaded by Senegathrips coutini, a species whose biology is not known but that is possibly a predator. Moreover, Liothrips africana also sometimes breeds within these galls, but is possibly using these only as a convenient shelter. A re-description and line-drawings of V. houardi was provided by zur Strassen (1958), but no modern diagnosis of this genus, nor of Senegathrips, is available, the objective here being to provide formal diagnoses for these two monotypic genera.