The genus Haplothrips Amyot & Serville, 1843 is a very large genus with more than 200 described species in the world. Most of congeneric species are very similar to one another, and are sometimes difficult to distinguish. The genus is most frequently found among all phlaeothripine genera in Korea. Five species have been reported from Korea: H. aculeatus (Fabricius, 1803), H. brevitubus (Karny, 1913), H. ganglbaueri Schmutz, 1913, H. kurdjumovi Karny, 1913, H. niger (Osborn, 1883).
The newly recorded species Haplothrips nipponicus is recently described from Japan (Honshu, Kyushu, Ryukyu Islands) by S. Okajima in 2006. The species is very similar to both of Korean species H. brevitubus and H. kurdjumovi in having sub basal wing setae b3 pointed at apex, but it can be easily distinguished by the sense-cone formula of the third antennal segment. Although the latter two species have only one sense-cone, H. nipponicus has two sense-cones on the segment. Moreover, these three species can be distinguished from one another by the shape of the male aedeagus whether it is apically rounded and laterally hardened or not. In this study, morphological characters for identification of H. nipponicus are described and figured. In addition, biological information about distribution and plant relationship is also presented.

• Gwan-Seok Lee(Division of Applied Entomology, National Institute of Agricultural Science & Technology, Rural Development Administration)