Holopothrips spermathecus, Lindner & Ferrari & Mound & Cavalleri, 2018

Lindner, Mariana F., Ferrari, Augusto, Mound, Laurence A. & Cavalleri, Adriano, 2018, Holopothrips diversity-a Neotropical genus of gall-inducing insects (Thysanoptera, Phlaeothripidae), Zootaxa 4494 (1), pp. 1-99 : 84

Holopothrips spermathecus sp. n.

( Figs 248–253 )

Diagnostic features. Body (except antenna) uniformly brown; head with maxillary stylets parallel; one pair of long setae on epimeral region; metanotal sculpture with elongate and narrow reticles, with weak internal markings; pelta elongate and with lateral basal wings, anterior margin round; female spermatheca enlarged medially.

Macropterous female: Body ( Fig. 248 ) uniformly brown, with fore tibia and all tarsi brownish yellow, basal half of tergite X darker. Antennal segment I concolourous with head, II brown on basal two thirds and yellow near apex, III–IV clear yellow, V yellow weakly shaded light brown on apical half, VI yellow on basal half and light brown on apical half, VII–VIII light brown. Fore wings shaded light brown with base slightly darker, median dark line present on hind wings but not on fore wings, clavus shaded; major body setae light brown.

Head ( Fig. 249 ) length subequal to width behind eyes, dorsal surface with weak transverse lines of sculpture, sometimes enclosing elongated reticles, cheeks straight. Eyes well-developed, dorsal length about 0.4 of head length; po with slightly expanded apex, shorter than the dorsal width of the eye. Maxillary stylets parallel, reaching po level and less than a fifth of head width apart. Mouth cone with sharply pointed tip, reaching the posterior margin of fore coxae. Antennal segments III and IV with 3 sense cones each.

Pronotum ( Fig. 249 ) trapezoidal, striate on posterior margin and with weak lines of sculpture near margins, but smooth medially; epimeral sutures incomplete, but reaching close to posterior margin of pronotum. Five major pairs of pronotal setae, one pair on epimeral region; am with acute to weakly capitate tip, aa, ml, ep and pa welldeveloped and with weakly capitate tips. Basantra absent; prosternal ferna well-developed, close or touching medially. Mesonotum ( Fig. 250 ) with irregular reticulation medially, which becomes elongate anterolaterally; internal markings on sculpture absent. Metanotum ( Fig. 251 ) with longitudinally elongate irregular reticles, almost forming a striate pattern, internal markings on sculpture present; two pairs of anterior discal setae and one pair of median major setae present. Fore tarsal hamus not enlarged. Fore wings with 8 to 10 duplicated cilia.

Pelta ( Fig. 252 ) triangular to weakly bell-shaped, anterior margin rounded, with lateral wings, slightly longer than wide right above basal wings; paired campaniform sensilla present. Sculpture covering the whole pelta; almost equiangular reticles medially, elongated reticles laterally, internal markings on sculpture absent. Tergite II with irregular reticles medially, transversely elongated laterally; sculpture less defined on further tergites. Tergites II– VII with three pairs of wing retaining setae. Tergite IX setae S1 with acute apex, S2 acute to slightly blunt, S3 acute. Tube about 0.8 of head length and about 1.9 times as long as greatest width near base. Spermatheca ( Fig. 253 ) swollen medially.

Measurements (female holotype in microns): Length about 2034; head length 200, width behind eyes 192, po length 50, eye dorsal length 77; median length of pronotum 127, width across ep 250, am 30, aa 24, ml 50, ep 75, pa 57; width of mesonotum 267; fore wing length 780; tergite IX setae S1 140, S2 142, S3 160; tergite X length 157, basal width 87, apical width 40; length(width) of antennal segments III–VIII 67 (30), 55(30), 60(30), 55(25), 52(20), 30(12), respectively.

Larvae: Body mainly yellow, but with red internal pigmentation on thorax and abdomen.

Material studied. Holotype female, Brazil, Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, in Myrciaria floribunda leaf gall, x.2012 ( Portugal, A.S.), at UFRGS. Slide code UFRGS 3130.

Paratypes: 1 female and 2 larvae collected with holotype, at UFRGS.

Etymology. Species named after its swollen spermatheca, which separates H. spermathecus from other similar-looking species.

Comments. Holopothrips spermathecus is very similar to species such as H. erianthi , H. maiae and H. stannardi , with the main traits used to differentiate it being the metanotal sculpture not closely striate ( Fig. 251 ) and the enlarged female spermatheca ( Fig. 253 ). Moreover, H. spermathecus differs from H. erianthi in having the am setae reduced and the head shorter ( Fig. 249 ); from H. maiae by the maxillary stylets being closer medially and base of fore wings being shaded; and from H. stannardi by having pronotal setae capitate and fernal plates touching medially. According to Santana (2014), H. spermathecus induces leaf-fold galls on Myrciaria floribunda ( Fig. 2 ). Specimens identified as H. erianthi were also collected from these galls.

Figures

FIGURES 248–253. Holopothrips spermathecus sp. nov. holotype and paratype. (248) body; (249) head and pronotum; (250) mesonotum; (251) metanotum; (252) pelta; (253) spermatheca.

FIGURES 1–9. Leaf-galls induced by Holopothrips (white arrows). (1) galls on Siphoneugena reitzii (by H. curiosus); (2) galls on Myrciaria floribunda (by H. spermathecus) (Photo: André Santana); (3) gall on Myrcia guianensis (by H. molzi); (4) gall on Myrcia retorta (by H. striatus); (5) gall on Myrcia sp. (by H. cardosoi) (Photo: João C. Cardoso); (6) gall on Myrcia splendens (by H. conducans); (7) gall on Myrcia splendens (by H. longisetus); (8) gall on Myrcia selloi (by H. acrioris); (9) galls on Neomitranthes obscura (by H. varicolor) (Photo: Sheila Carvalho-Fernandes).