Rohrthrips brachyvenis, Ulitzka, 2022

Ulitzka, Manfred R., 2022, New genera and species of Rohrthripidae (Thysanoptera: Tubulifera) from Burmese Cretaceous amber, Zootaxa 5162 (1), pp. 1-36 : 11-12

Rohrthrips brachyvenis sp. n.

( Fig. 12 )

Female (Syntype MU-Fos-138/1). Body fully distended; right wings spread, left wings twisted and overlapping abdomen; all legs bent, left hind leg folded under abdomen; dorsal parts of head (vertex) and some pronotal major setae torn off. Syntype MU-Fos-139/1; sex not determinable because distal abdominal segments are obscured. Body distended; wings spread; right wings distally hidden by a crack; all legs except left hind leg bent; fore legs folded under the head.

Colour ( Fig. 12 ) uniformly brown including antennae and legs; all major setae dark as well as wing veins and fringes; wings largely translucent, but fore wings with an elongate brownish spot along distal part of vein towards anterior wing margin.

Head wider than long; slightly prolonged in front of the small compound eyes. Cheeks protruding behind eyes; rounded and tapering towards base; with about 3 pairs of faint lateral setae. One pair of ocellar setae visible close to base of antennae; pointed, about as long as antennal segment I. Postocular setae far behind compound eyes; pointed, long and stout. Compound eyes small; not prolonged ventrally. Ocelli not visible. Antennae nine-segmented; segment I barrel-shaped; segment II asymmetrically bent outwards, basally with a short pedicle; III–VII with a longer pedicle at base, then symmetrical inverse cone shaped and tapering distally from level of sense cones, VIII spindleshaped, IX style-shaped. Segment II with a small distal sensorium; number of sense cones of the following segments difficult to assess, at least two outers and two inners on III and one outer and one inner on IV–VI. Mouth cone short and rounded. Maxillary palps three-segmented. Pronotum wider than long, trapezoidal; anteroangular, mediolateral and posteroangular setae long and pointed, anteromarginal and posteromarginal setae minute; epimeral setae longer than other pronotal major setae. Mesonotum sculptured coarsely reticulate; mesonotal setae not visible. Fore wings ( Fig. 12 ) becoming progressively larger in distal half; anterior vein reaching costa in front of apex (at about four fifths of the wing length), bearing some faint setae (their number and length different in each syntype); second vein not developed; membrane without microtrichia. Fringe cilia straight; slightly enlarged at base but embedded into the wing membrane, not on sockets. Duplicated cilia present around apical margin of wing; running parallel to normal wing fringes. Hind wing without microtrichia and without any veins. Wing coupling system hamulo-frenate; with a series of 3–4 hamuli at anterior margin close to base of hind wing. Fore legs with femora stout; fore tarsi with a strong tooth and a strong hamus. Mid and hind legs slender. All femora with one long ventral and all tibiae with one long dorsal seta; mid and hind tibiae terminally each with three spines; mid and hind tarsi two-segmented, with hamus. Abdominal tergites without wing-retaining setae; lateral setae pointed, recurved, long but delicate; setae s3 on IV–VII conspicuously longer than other lateral setae. Abdominal tergite I (pelta) not assessable; II with a dorsolateral suture slanting laterally inwards; segment IX conical, with setae s2 very long, protruding over tip of tube; gynosternal plates with aciculae recognizable. Abdominal segment X (tube) moderately long and slightly extended at base; with terminal crown of long anal setae about as long as tube.

Measurements. Female MU-Fos-138/1 (in microns): Body, length 2038. Head, length 189; largest width 227. Eyes, length 70; width 32. Ocellar setae 41. Pronotum, length 246; width 441. Pterothorax, largest width 410. Epimeral setae 164. Abdomen, length 1254; largest width 461 (segment IV); segment X (tube), length 221; basal width 69. Setae on tergite IX, s1 189; s2 328; s3 107. Antennae, length 525; length (largest width) of segment I 51 (31), II 61 (34), III 87 (40), IV 71 (34), V 69 (28), VI 60 (22), VII 62 (19), VIII 42 (12), IX 22 (6). Sense cones, length of inner (outer) on segment III 22&19 (22&19), IV 22 (25), V 16 (16), VI 9 (9); basal width of sense cones on III and IV about 5. Fore wings, length 1137; largest width 294; vein length 892.

Measurements added from syntype MU-Fos-139/1: Body, length 2000. Pronotal anteromarginal setae 88, mediolateral setae 82, posteroangular setae 63; epimeral setae 189.

Material studied. Syntype female MU-Fos-138/1 ( Fig. 12 ); inclusion in Burmese amber from Hukawng Valley , Kachin State, Myanmar. Purchased by the author on eBay from Terry Su, eBay username “burmite-miner”; deposited in the author’s collection . Syntype MU-Fos-139/1; inclusion in Burmese amber from Hukawng Valley, Kachin State, Myanmar; donated by Patrick Müller; deposited in the author’s collection .

Syninclusions. MU-Fos-138/1: plant detritus, stellate plant hairs. MU-Fos-139/1: remnants of a fly (Diptera) and small brownish droplets of unknown origin.

Etymology. The species epithet brachyvenis comes from the Greek word βραχύς (brachys), meaning “short”, and the Latin word vena, meaning “vein”. It refers to the short wing vein of this species ( Fig. 12 ).

Figures

FIGURES 12–15. Rohrthrips spp. (12) Rohrthrips brachyvenis sp. n. holotype female, dorsal view; (13) Rohrthrips breviceps male, dorsal view (Note: the median shading makes the tube appear narrow, but the lighter edges are part of the tube, which actually is broad at base); (14) Rohrthrips jiewenae male, dorsal view; (15) Rohrthrips multihamuli sp. n. holotype female, head and pronotum, antennal segments III–IV indicated with roman numerals.