Ambaeolothrips romanruizi

Mound, Laurence, Cavalleri, Adriano, O’Donnell, Cheryle, Infante, Francisco, Ortiz, Antonio & Goldarazena, Arturo, 2016, Ambaeolothrips: a new genus of Neotropical Aeolothripidae (Thysanoptera), with observations on the type-species from mango trees in Mexico, Zootaxa 4132 (3), pp. 413-421 : 416

Ambaeolothrips romanruizi Ruiz-De la Cruz et al. comb. n.

( Figs 8 , 17, 19 , 21, 24 )

Aeolothrips romanruizi Ruiz-De la Cruz, Vásquez-López, Retana-Salazar, Mora-Aguilera & Johansen-Naime, 2013: 29.

Described from 15 females taken from “mango crops” on unspecified dates in Oaxaca, Mexico, this species has been studied from various sites between Panama and southern Mexico, as discussed further below. The male is described here for the first time, based on specimens from Chiapas, and voucher specimens will be deposited in suitable museum collections.

Description of male. Body and legs dark brown, abdominal segments III–VIII light brown with lateral margins yellow; antennal segment II pale distally, III weakly shaded toward apex (not as clear yellow as in female); fore wing as in female, with two dark cross bands, anterior and posterior marginal veins dark around median pale area, apical ring vein dusky, clavus with distal half pale. Smaller than female, with abdomen slender; tergite I with paired longitudinal ridges and transverse sculpture lines; median tergites without tubercles; tergite IX with pair of narrow pale areas near posterior margin, one pair of stout setae arise submedially and two pairs laterally ( Fig. 19 ). Sternite II with one pair of marginal setae, III–VII with three pairs.

Biological observations on romanruizi . In January 2016, more than 500 females of this aeolothripid were collected from the flowers of mango trees in Chiapas, together with four of the previously unknown males. Females were also collected from mango at various localities in Chiapas between February and April, 2012, and again in March 2013. A few females were taken from mango and avocado in Veracruz, Mexico, and a single female was taken from mangrove in Panama in July 2011. In order to examine the feeding behaviour of this thrips, live females were collected in Chiapas from leaves and flowering panicles of mango. After a resting period in the laboratory, 15 females were placed individually into separate plastic cups together with a piece of mango leaf and about 25 larvae of mango-inhabiting Frankliniella and/or Scirtothrips species. Behaviour of the females was observed several times each day, but no predation on the available larval Thripidae was observed. The females apparently continued to feed on the mango leaves, and were observed to oviposit in these leaves. Clearly, there remains a possibility that this thrips is predatory under some circumstances, but our observations could not confirm the opinion of Ruiz de la Cruz et al. (2013) that “This predatory thrips may be important in controlling many species of phytophagous thrips that attack this crop.”

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 14. Aeolothripidae species. Terminal antennal segments 1 – 8: (1) Aeolothrips nitidus; (2) Ae. fasciatus; (3) Ae. bicolor; (4) Ae. nasturtii; (5) Desmothrips australis; (6) Ambaeolothrips microstriatus segments I – IX; (7) Am. pampeanus segments III – IX; (8) Am. romanruizi segments IV – IX. Meso and metanota 9 – 14: (9) Stomatothrips septenarius; (10) Aduncothrips? asiaticus; (11) Erythrothrips arizonae; (12) Lamprothrips miltoni; (13) Gelothrips cinctus; (14) Aeolothrips nitidus.

FIGURES 15 – 20. Ambaeolothrips. (15) microstriatus male. Fore wings 16 – 18: (16) microstriatus, (17) romanruizi, (18) pampeanus. (19) romanruizi male tergite IX. (20) pampeanus female.

FIGURES 21 – 24. Ambaeolothrips. Meso and metanotum 21 – 23: (21) romanruizi; (22) microstriatus; (23) pampeanus. (24) romanruizi female sternite VII (left side), marginal setae 1 – 4; paired accessory setae (acc. s.)