Holopothrips cardosoi, 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 : 28

Holopothrips cardosoi sp. n.

( Figs 45–50 )

Diagnostic features. Body (except antenna) uniformly brown; maxillary stylets parallel, almost touching medially, and retracted beyond posterior margin of eyes; two pairs of long pronotal setae on epimeral region; metanotal sculpture with weakly defined elongate reticles, without internal markings; male with pore plates on sternites VII– VIII, a single transverse plate extending to lateral limits on each sternite; female spermatheca not enlarged.

Macropterous female: Body ( Fig. 45 ) uniformly brown, fore tibia yellow on apical half and shaded brown on basal half, fore tarsi yellow, mid and hind tarsi brownish yellow, tergite X dark brown but lighter apically. Antennal segment I concolourous with head, II brown but lighter apically, III yellow and shaded light brown on apical half, IV–VI yellow basally and brown apically, VII–VIII brown. Fore wings slightly shaded with area around sub-basal setae light brown, without median dark line, clavus brown; major body setae yellow to light brown.

Head ( Fig. 46 ) about 1.2 times as long as width behind eyes, dorsal surface with transverse lines of sculpture, forming a few irregular transversely elongated reticles, cheeks straight. Eyes well-developed but not as enlarged as in some Holopothrips species, dorsal length about 0.36 of head length; po with weakly expanded apex, about as long as the dorsal length of the eye. Maxillary stylets parallel, reaching the posterior margin of eyes and very close or touching each other medially. Mouth cone with pointed tip, reaching the posterior margin of fore coxae. Antennal segment III with 3 sense cones and IV with 3 sense cones + 1 additional small sense cone.

Pronotum ( Fig. 46 ) trapezoidal, few lines of reticulate sculpture faintly indicated medially, almost striate near posterior margin; epimeral sutures incomplete and short. Six major pairs of pronotal setae, two pairs on epimeral region; am reduced, aa, ml, ep and pa well-developed and with blunt to slightly expanded tips. Basantra faintly indicated; prosternal ferna well-developed, close medially but not touching. Mesonotum with irregular reticulation medially, which becomes elongated laterally; internal markings on sculpture absent. Metanotum ( Fig. 47 ) with longitudinally elongated reticles medially, longitudinal lines laterally, internal markings on sculpture absent; one pair of anterior discal setae and one pair of median major setae present. Fore tarsal hamus not enlarged. Fore wings with 18 to 23 duplicated cilia.

Pelta ( Fig. 50 ) triangular, anterior margin straight, with weak lateral wings; paired campaniform sensilla present. Sculpture covering the whole pelta; small irregular reticles medially, larger and slightly elongated reticles laterally and posteriorly, internal markings on sculpture absent. Tergite II with short transverse lines forming a striate pattern, sculpture less defined on further tergites. Tergites II–VII with three pairs of wing retaining setae. Tergite IX setae S1 with acute to slightly expanded apex, S2 and S3 finely acute. Tube about 0.8–0.9 of head length and about 2.2 times as long as greatest width near base. Spermatheca ( Fig. 49 ) curled, weakly thickened but not swollen medially.

Measurements (female holotype in microns): Length about 2745; head length 282, width behind eyes 225, po length 92, eye dorsal length 75; median length of pronotum 167, width across ep 355, aa 60, ml 107, ep 130, pa 137; width of mesonotum 350; fore wing length 1100; tergite IX setae S1 235, S2 255, S3 252; tergite X length 250, basal width 112, apical width 50; length(width) of antennal segments III–VIII 75 (37), 67(36), 67(32), 60(27), 60(22), 35(11), respectively.

Macropterous male: Similar to female in both colouration and structure, but slightly smaller. Sternites VII– VIII ( Fig. 48 ) each with a transverse pore plate with reticulate aspect placed posteriorly to discal setae.

Measurements (male paratype in microns): Length about 2330; head length 247, width behind eyes 207, po length 85, eye dorsal length 75; median length of pronotum 157, width across ep 332, am 12, aa 50, ml 70, ep 112, pa 117; width of mesonotum 325; fore wing length 1010; tergite IX setae S1 200, S2 215, S3 222; tergite X length 202, basal width 102, apical width 46; length(width) of antennal segments III–VIII 65 (32), 57(31), 60(30), 57(25), 60(20), 35(12), respectively.

Material studied. Holotype female, Brazil, Minas Gerais, Uberlândia, in Myrcia sp. gall, 1.vi.2016 (Cardoso, J.C.F.), at UFRGS. Slide code UFRGS 5065 .

Paratypes: 2 males and 18 females collected with holotype, at UFRGS.

Non-type specimens: 4 females collected with holotype, at UFRGS.

Etymology. Named after João Cardoso, the collector of the type specimens.

Comments. The head of H. cardosoi is characteristic in being longer than wide and having maxillary stylets very close medially, touching each other in some specimens ( Fig. 46 ), a trait that is shared with H. ananasi . However, H. cardosoi lacks the characteristic sculpture formed by small equiangular reticles that H. ananasi has in the head and metanotum, and has the antennal segments shorter and more robust. Another remarkable trait of this species is the lack of anteroangular pore plates in males, bearing only the posterior transverse band on sternites VII–VIII ( Fig. 48 ). Holopothrips cardosoi may be related to some other large, dark-bodied species of the genus with two pairs of epimeral setae, such as H. atlanticus and H. nigrisetis sp. n. (both with V-shaped maxillary stylets instead of parallel, and three pore plates on sternite VIII instead of one), and H. nigrum sp. n. (which has closely striate metanotal sculpture instead of reticles). This species induces terminal rosette galls on an undetermined Myrcia species ( Fig. 5 ), very similar in structure to that induced by H. conducans in M. splendens ( Fig. 6 ).

Figures

FIGURES 45–50. Holopothrips cardosoi sp. nov. holotype and paratypes. (45) body; (46) head and pronotum; (47) metanotal sculpture; (48) pore plates on abdominal sternites VII–VIII; (49) spermatheca; (50) pelta.

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).