Aesthesiothrips breviconus, Okajima & Masumoto, 2023

Okajima, Shûji & Masumoto, Masami, 2023, Six genera of the subtribe Macrothripina from Southeast Asia to Taiwan (Thysanoptera, Phlaeothripidae, Idolothripinae), Zootaxa 5291 (1), pp. 1-74 : 8-9

Aesthesiothrips breviconus sp. n.

( Figs 1–7 , 211 )

Female (macroptera). Distended body length: 5.0mm. Colour dark brown. Antennal segment II yellowish distally, segment III yellowish with apical 1/2 partly scarcely shaded. Fore tibiae dark brown, almost as dark as femora; tarsi brown. Fore wings pale, with an indistinct streak in basal half. Prominent setae yellow to brownish yellow. Head ( Fig. 1 ) elongate, much longer than twice as long as broad, 2.65 times as long as broad, broadest across eyes and base; dorsal surface sculptured with transverse wrinkles or reticles; basal collar strongly protruded posteriorly at middle. Cheeks weakly convex, weakly constricted in basal 1/3; each with some short setae, 25–30μm long. Postocular setae elongate, much longer than postocellars, close to each other, closer than to the posterior ocelli, about 80μm apart from each other, nearly pointed; postocellar setae longer than dorsal length of eyes, situated between posterior ocelli, nearly pointed. Eyes small, not prolonged ventrally ( Fig. 2 ), dorsal length 0.15 times as long as head; posterior ocelli close to eyes, 24–30μm in diameter, 80μm apart from each other.Antennal segment VIII constricted basally ( Fig. 3 ); segment III short, 2.6 times as long as broad, much shorter than segment IV; sense-cones short, setiform, about 1/2 length of the segment on segments III and IV; segment IV with one or two small dorsal sense-cones in addition to four usual long sense-cones. Pronotum much shorter than 1/5 the length of head, 0.19 times as long as head; dorsal surface smooth. Prominent setae blunt or nearly pointed, am and aa short, epim elongate, a little shorter than median length of pronotum. Ferna well developed ( Fig. 4 ). Mesopresternum broadly boat-shaped ( Fig. 4 ); prospinasternum narrow, widened anteriorly, 43μm broad. Metanotum finely reticulate around median pair of setae ( Fig. 5 ). Fore femur with a dorso-external seta near middle, 60–70μm long; fore tibiae unarmed ( Fig. 6 ). Fore wings each with 29 duplicated cilia; sub-basal setae blunt. Pelta ( Fig. 5 ) triangular with recurved lateral wings, typical of the genus. Posteromarginal setae on abdominal tergite IX sharply pointed, shorter than tube, S1 and S2 subequal in length. Tube slender ( Fig. 7 ), almost as long as head, about 4.4 times as long as broad, sides almost straight, evenly weakly narrowed to apex, slightly constricted at apex. Terminal setae much shorter than tube.

Measurements (holotype female in μm). Body length about 4970 (distended). Head length 690, from anterior margin of eyes 660, width across eyes 260, maximum width across cheeks 251, across near base 260; eyes length 104, width 63; postocular setae 215–225; postocellars 125–130. Antenna total length 850 (not distended), segments I–VIII length (width) as follows: 90 (61), 82 (44), 141 (55), 168 (55), 153 (50), 105 (40), 72 (30), 60 (19). Pronotum length 128, width 420. Setae on prothorax: am 40, aa 60, ml?, pa 80, epim 120. Fore wing length 1850. Sub-basal wing setae: S1 40, S2 65–100, S3 140–150. Setae on tergite IX: S1 600, S2 580–630. Tube length 680, basal width 155, apical width 60; terminal setae more than 300.

Male. Unknown.

Type series. Holotype: macropterous female, Peninsular Malaysia, Pahang, Endau-Rompin Park, fogging (Trees: Koompassia excelsa , Shorea leprosula ), 8.vii.2003, H. Kojima.

Remarks. The unique holotype female was collected together with A. elongatus sp. n. which is also newly described below. Initially, we suspected that this female might be a variant or abnormal individual of elongatus , but as can be seen from the key above, there are significant differences in several character states, and we judged that it is a distinct species. This species is distinct within the genus in having long postocular setae, not prolonged compound eyes and shorter sense-cones on the antennal segments III–V. Moreover, breviconus has the body apparently rather more slender than both elongatus and jatrophae ( Figs 211–213 ). It is very interesting that these related three species are distributed sympatrically.

Figures

FIGURES 1–7. Aesthesiothrips breviconus sp. n., female. (1) Head & prothorax; (2) eyes, ventral surface; (3) antenna; (4) prosternum & mesopresternum; (5) metanotum & pelta; (6) fore tibia and tarsus; (7) tube.

FIGURES 211–222. Macrothripina genera and species. Aesthesiothrips species, female 211–213: (211) A. breviconus sp. n.; (212) A. elongatus sp. n.; (213) A. jatrophae. Celidothrips species, female 214–215: (214) C. adiaphorus; (215) C. floresi sp. n. Ethirothrips species 216–222: (216) E. brevis, female; (217) E. colossus sp. n., male; (218) E. conopygus sp. n., male; (219) E. conopygus sp. n., female; (220) E. dalatae sp. n., female; (221) E. duricaudus sp. n., female; (222) E. kasetsarti sp. n., female.