Holopothrips maiae, 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 : 63-65

Holopothrips maiae sp. n.

( Figs 176–182 )

Diagnostic features. Body (except antenna) uniformly brown; maxillary stylets halfway between parallel and Vshaped, about 1/3 of head width apart at maxillary bridge level; one pair of long pronotal setae on epimeral region; metanotal sculpture striate thoroughly; pelta sharply triangular, with straight margins and without internal markings on sculpture; male with three reticulate pore plates on sternites VII–VIII, posterior plate on VII with a large median interruption; female spermatheca not enlarged.

Macropterous female: Body ( Fig. 176 ) uniformly brown, with fore tibia lighter, all tarsi yellow, tergite X dark brown on basal half and lighter on apical half. Antennal segment I concolourous with head, II brown on basal half and yellow on apical half, III yellow lightly shaded light brown on apical half, IV light brown with base yellowish, V–VIII brown. Fore wings pale, without median dark line; major body setae yellow.

Head ( Fig. 177 ) about 1.1 times as long as width behind eyes, dorsal surface with weak transverse lines of sculpture, cheeks curved. Eyes well-developed, dorsal length about 0.4 of head length; po with capitate apex, about as long as the dorsal width of the eye. Maxillary stylets loosely parallel to slightly V-shaped, reaching po level and about a third of head width apart. Mouth cone pointed, reaching close to anterior margin of ferna. Antennal segment III with 3 sense cones and IV with 3 sense cones + 1 additional small sense cone.

Pronotum ( Fig. 177 ) trapezoidal, surface smooth medially, transverse lines of sculpture present near posterior margin; epimeral sutures incomplete and short. Five major pairs of pronotal setae, one pair on epimeral region; am reduced, aa, ml, ep and pa well-developed and with capitate tips. Basantra absent; prosternal ferna well-developed, almost touching medially, anterior margins weakly produced in at least one specimen. Mesonotum ( Fig. 178 ) with irregular reticulation medially, surrounded by elongate reticulation or transverse lines; internal markings on sculpture absent. Metanotum ( Fig. 182 ) with short longitudinal lines forming striations, enclosing a few elongated reticles medially, faint internal markings on sculpture present medially; one or two pairs of anterior discal setae and one pair of median major setae present. Fore tarsal hamus not enlarged. Fore wings with 9 to 12 duplicated cilia.

Pelta ( Fig. 179 ) sharply triangular, anterior margin acute, with small lateral wings; paired campaniform sensilla present. Sculpture covering the whole pelta; longitudinally elongated reticles medially, larger irregular reticles laterally, internal markings on sculpture absent. Tergite II with transversely elongate irregular reticles; sculpture less defined on further tergites. Tergites III–VII with three pairs of wing retaining setae. Tergite IX setae S1, S2 and S3 with finely acute apexes. Tube about 0.8 of head length and about 2.3 times as long as greatest width near base, apical width about 0.55 of basal width. Spermatheca ( Fig. 180 ) S-shaped, slightly thickened but not swollen medially.

Measurements (female holotype in microns): Length about 2390; head length 230, width behind eyes 205, po length 59, eye dorsal length 100; median length of pronotum 132, width across ep 275, am 6, aa 42, ml 52, ep 95, pa 107; width of mesonotum 287; fore wing length 950; tergite IX setae S1 202, S2 217, S3 175; tergite X length 190, basal width 85, apical width 47; length(width) of antennal segments III–VIII 65 (34), 55(32), 60(30), 55(30), 55(25), 35(12), respectively.

Macropterous male: Similar to female in both colouration and structure, but slightly smaller. Pore plates ( Fig. 181 ) with reticulate texture and present on sternites VII–VIII: two anteroangular plates and one transverse band posterior to discal setae, this band interrupted medially on VII.

Measurements (male paratype in microns): Length about 2153; head length 210, width behind eyes 192, po length 50, eye dorsal length 85; median length of pronotum 120, width across ep 270, am 12, aa 37, ml 70, ep 97, pa 107; width of mesonotum 262; fore wing length 900; tergite IX setae S1 200, S2 200, S3 195; tergite X length 175, basal width 80, apical width 45; length(width) of antennal segments III–VIII 60 (32), 50(32), 55(30), 50(27), 52(21), 37(12), respectively.

Larvae: body pale, with dark red pigmentation on prothorax, metathorax and abdominal segments III–IV and VI–VII; antennal segments and abdominal segments IX–X lightly shaded brown.

Pupa: body pale but filled with granules of red pigmentation thoroughly.

Material studied. Holotype female, Brazil, Minas Gerais, Itamonte, Brejo da Lapa, in Marlierea sp. gall (lateral gem), 15.iii.2012 (Maia, V.C.), at UFRGS. Slide code UFRGS 4693 .

Paratypes: 12 males, 10 females and 11 larvae collected with holotype, at UFRGS . 1 male and 1 female collected with holotype, at ANIC .

Non-type specimen: 1 female collected with holotype, at UFRGS.

Etymology. Named after Valeria Maia, for her work with plant galls and constant collection of galling thrips for study.

Comments. One of the unusual traits of this species is the sharply triangular pelta, with straight lateral margins and small lateral wings ( Fig. 179 ), while most Holopothrips species have the lateral margins of pelta slightly curved or irregular, and lack basal wings. Classifying the position of the maxillary stylets ( Fig. 177 ) of H. maiae is difficult: while it is about one third of head width apart as in other species of Holopothrips with parallel stylets, the position of the stylets seems to be closer to a V-shape, thus this species might represent an intermediate state. Holopothrips maiae shares some similarities with H. erianthi , but males lack pore plates on sternite VI and fore wings are thoroughly pale. It is also very similar to H. spermathecus sp. n., but differs from it in the metanotal sculpture, female spermatheca not being enlarged ( Fig. 180 ), and the absence of a third pair of WR on abdominal tergite II.

Figures

FIGURES 176–182. Holopothrips maiae sp. nov. holotype and paratypes. (176) body; (177) head and pronotum; (178) mesonotum; (179) pelta; (180) spermatheca; (181) pore plates on abdominal sternites VII–VIII; (182) metanotum.