Holopothrips longisetus, 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 : 59-61

Holopothrips longisetus sp. n.

( Figs 159–167 )

Diagnostic features. Body (except antenna) uniformly brown; maxillary stylets V-shaped; two pairs of long pronotal setae on epimeral region; fore leg hamus thickened; metanotal sculpture with irregular slightly elongate reticles, not reaching close to posterior margin of metanotal craspedum; pelta with anterior margin acute and reticulation weaker to absent medially; male without pore plates; female spermatheca thickened, but not enlarged medially.

Macropterous female: Body ( Fig. 159 ) brown, with head and basal half of tergite X slightly darker, fore tibia slightly lighter than fore femora. Antennal segment I concolourous with head, II brown at base and yellow at apex, III–IV yellow, V yellow weakly shaded with brown on apical half, VI light brown with basal fourth yellow, VII– VIII light brown. Fore wings pale, without median dark line; major body setae brownish yellow.

Head ( Fig. 160 ) about 1.4 times as long as width behind eyes, dorsal surface with transverse lines of sculpture, cheeks slightly curved. Eyes well-developed, somewhat bulbous, dorsal length about 0.35 of head length; po with acute to slightly capitate apex, longer than eyes, sometimes a second well-developed seta is present internally to po pair. Maxillary stylets V-shaped, reaching halfway to po and about 0.4 of head width apart. Mouth cone with pointed tip, reaching close to posterior margin of ferna. Antennal segments III and IV with 2 sense cones each.

Pronotum ( Fig. 160 ) trapezoidal, with weak equiangular reticulation medially; epimeral sutures incomplete and short. Six major pairs of pronotal setae, two pairs on epimeral region; am variable in size from half of aa length ( Fig. 162 ) to subequal ( Fig. 160 ), with acute to slightly capitate tip; aa, ml, ep and pa well-developed and with blunt to weakly capitate tips. Basantra absent; prosternal ferna well-developed, close medially but not touching. Mesonotum ( Fig. 163 ) reticulate, equiangular medially and transversely elongated near anterior margin; internal markings on sculpture absent. Metanotum ( Fig. 167 ) with irregular reticles medially, longitudinally elongated laterally, faint internal markings on sculpture present medially; one pair of anterior discal setae and one pair of median major setae present. Fore tarsal hamus thickened and almost extending beyond lateral margin of tarsus ( Fig. 161 ). Fore wings with 9 to 11 duplicated cilia.

Pelta ( Fig. 164 ) triangular, anterior margin acute, no lateral wings; paired campaniform sensilla present. Sculpture covering the whole pelta but weaker medially; almost equiangular reticles medially, surrounded by elongated reticles, internal markings on sculpture absent. Tergite II with well-defined transverse lines forming irregular reticulation; sculpture less defined on further tergites. Tergites II–VII with three pairs of wing retaining setae, but in some specimens might be present only in one side or absent in some tergites. Tergite IX setae much longer than tube, S1, S2 and S3 finely acute. Tube about 0.85 of head length and about 2.0 times as long as greatest width near base, apical width about 0.55 of basal width. Spermatheca ( Fig. 165 ) curled and thickened, but not swollen medially.

Measurements (female holotype in microns): Length about 2350; head length 255, width behind eyes 187, po length 147, eye dorsal length 90; median length of pronotum 165, width across ep 282, am 70, aa 85, ml 135, ep 130, pa 127; width of mesonotum 302; fore wing length 980; tergite IX setae S1 437, S2 462, S3 350; tergite X length 215, basal width 100, apical width 57; length(width) of antennal segments III–VIII 67 (35), 57(32), 66(35), 62(30), 65(25), 34(15), respectively.

Macropterous male: Similar to female in colouration and structure, but slightly smaller; sternites ( Fig. 166 ) without pore plates; S3 on tergite IX reduced or absent.

Measurements (male paratype in microns): Length about 2044; head length 225, width behind eyes 165, po length 125, eye dorsal length 77; median length of pronotum 147, width across ep 250, am 84, aa 57, ml 107, ep 107, pa 105; width of mesonotum 267; fore wing length 800; tergite IX setae S1 350, S2 325; tergite X length 177, basal width 85, apical width 45; length(width) of antennal segments III–VIII 57 (31), 50(30), 60(30), 55(27), 52(22), 40(12), respectively.

Larvae: Body largely yellow, but with conspicuous rings of red internal pigmentation on thorax and most of abdominal segments.

Material studied. Holotype female, Brazil, Goiás, Goiânia, in Myrcia splendens galls, 20.ix.2014 (Cavalleri, A.), at UFRGS. Slide code UFRGS 4391 .

Paratypes: 22 males, 72 females and 22 larvae collected with holotype, at UFRGS . 1 male and 2 females collected with holotype, at ANIC .

Non-type specimens: 2 males and 7 females collected with holotype; 10 females, Brazil, Mato Grosso, Chapada dos Guimarães, in Myrcia splendens galls, 18.i.2012 (Maia, V.C.); all at UFRGS .

Etymology. Species named after its very long major body setae.

Comments. Holopothrips longisetus has some of the defining characters of the genus, like the third pair of WR (although sometimes absent or present on only one side in some specimens), the anterior discal setae on metanotum and the visible female spermatheca ( Fig. 165 ). However, there are only two sense cones on antennal segments III–IV, and males have no pore plates ( Fig. 165 ), both conditions that have been observed already in a few other species within the genus. This thrips was found inducing leaf galls on M. splendens , characterized by marginal leaf fold or curl, on one or both sides ( Fig. 7 ).

Figures

FIGURES 159–167. Holopothrips longisetus sp. nov. holotype and paratypes. (159) body; (160) head and pronotum, with long pronotal setae, including am; (161) fore tarsus, showing robust hamus (black arrow); (162) detail of pronotum, showing shorter am setae (white arrows); (163) mesonotum; (164) pelta; (165) spermatheca; (166) male abdominal sternite VIII, showing absence of pore plate; (167) metanotum.

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).