Eremiothrips aldryhimi, Rasool & Abdel-Dayem & Alattal & Aldhafer, 2021

Rasool, Iftekhar, Abdel-Dayem, Mahmoud S., Alattal, Yehya Zaki & Aldhafer, Hathal M., 2021, The Anaphothrips genus-group of Thripidae (Thysanoptera) from Saudi Arabia with two new species of Eremiothrips, Journal of Natural History 55 (25 - 26), pp. 1599-1617 : 1608-1609

Eremiothrips aldryhimi sp. nov.

( Figures 2 , 22, 27 , 32, 36 , 38–39 )

Female macroptera ( Figure 38 ). Body almost completely pale; pronotum, pterothorax and abdominal segments shaded grey; antennal segment I pale, II with grey shading, III–V pale but light brown or grey at extreme apex, VI–IX light brown; head and legs uniformly pale; fore wings pale, veins and cilia grey.

Head wider than long; ocellar setae pair III arising in front of hind ocelli within triangle, smaller than distance between their bases, about as long as pairs I and II ( Figure 32 ); ocellar triangle smooth, without sculpture; antennae 9-segmented ( Figure 2 ), sense cone on segments III and IV forked, sense cone on III placed ventrolateral to the segment, VI with inner sense cone reaching to middle of segment VIII; antennal segment VII with outer sense cone short, hardly reaching middle of VIII ( Figure 2 ).

Pronotum wider than long with transverse striae and numerous discal setae, anterior margin with 5–6, posterior margin with 3–4, scarcely larger than discal setae; 1 pair of posteroangular setae present, about twice as long as posterior marginal setae ( Figure 32 ); metanotum with sculptured reticles equiangular, small to large anteromedially. Metanotum without campaniform sensilla, median pair of setae as long as pronotal posteroangular setae. Fore wing first vein with 6–7 setae on basal half and 3–4 widely spaced setae distally; second vein with 10–11 setae; posteromarginal cilia wavy.

Abdominal tergites with transverse lines, weak medially, tergites II–VII with 1 pair of campaniform sensilla posterolateral to the median setae near posterior margin, VIII–IX with 2 pairs of campaniform sensilla; posterior margin of tergite VII usually smooth, only a few individual females have weak irregular microtrichia; tergite VIII with comb of small microtrichia. Tergite IX with setae S1 and S2 as long as median length of segment X; X without median dorsal split. Sternites smooth, without discal setae. Sternite VII with posteromarginal setae S1 arising in front of margin; pleurotergites without discal setae.

Measurements (Holotype female). Body length 1210. Head length 93, width 162; ocellar setae III 15. Pronotum length 107, width 192; posteroangular setae 30. Metanotal median setae 30. Fore wing length 653. Tergite IX setae S1 60, S2 59. Antennal segments I– IX length: 16, 34, 40, 35, 32, 36, 11, 10, 14.

Paratype females. Body length 1155–1273. Head length 83–96, width 158–165; ocellar setae III 14–15. Pronotum length 107–118, width 192–198; posteroangular setae 25–30. Metanotal median setae 28–30. Fore wing length 655–685. Tergite IX setae S1 58 –62, S2 58 –62. Antennal segments I–IX length: 15–18, 33–35, 37–40, 32–35, 29–32, 35–37, 10–11, 9–10, 14–15.

Male macroptera ( Figure 39 ). Similar to female in structure except smaller and paler; tergite IX with paired dark brown processes, medially curved, 95–112 microns long ( Figure 22 ). Sternites III–VII with narrow transverse pore plates ( Figure 27 ).

Measurements (Paratype male). Body length 710–955. Head length 74–80, width 125– 139, ocellar setae III 10. Pronotum length 80–95, width 140–157; posteroangular setae 30. Metanotal median setae 18–23. Fore wing length 425–515. Sternites III–VII pore plates width (length): III 29–33 (6–7), IV 35–40 (5), V 36–40 (5), VI 35–39 (4–5), VII 27–32 (5–6). Tergite IX paired processes length 95–112. Antennal segments I–IX length: 16–20, 25–28, 31–35, 31–35, 26–30, 31, 10–11, 9–10, 15.

Etymology

The specific epithet is a Latinised noun in the genitive case in the masculine form based on the honorific name ‘Yousif N. Aldryhim’, professor in the Department of Plant Protection, College of Food and Agricultural Science, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia, who is also one of the collectors of this species.

Material examined

Holotype female. Saudi Arabia. Riyadh, Al Muzahamiya, Jilah, Lanakh, female from leaves of Tetraena simplex [ Zygophyllaceae ], 12 March 2020 (24.424933°N, 45.467267°E alt. 715 m) (I. Rasool) (deposited in KSMA).

Paratypes. All deposited in KSMA and collected by I . Rasool , except where otherwise indicated . Collected with holotype, 193 females, 4 males, 6 larvae. Al Muzahamiya, Al Huwait , 4 females, 1 male from leaves of Prosopis juliflora [ Fabaceae ], 5 females from Suaeda fruticosa , 12 March 2020 . Al Huwait, Ubaid Balish Farm , 1 female from unknown plant, 12 March 2020 . Ash-Shura , 3 females from Prosopis juliflora , 13 March 2020 . Al Dawadmi, Najakh , 39 females, 1 male and one larva from Zilla spinosa [ Brassicaceae ], 13 March 2020 . Al Bijadyah , 32 females from grasses, 13 March 2020 . Al Ghat, Abdulaziz Al Tamair farm, 1 female from leaves of Arundo donax , 27 March 2019 (Yousif N. Aldryhim and I. Rasool) . Rumah, Hafr Al Atk, Rawdat Tinhat , 1 female, 20 March 2020 . Dirab, King Saudi University Educational Farm , 14 females, 1 male from leaves of Polygonum aviculare [ Polygonaceae ], 19 females, 6 males from leaves of Tribulus terrestris [ Zygophyllaceae ], 9 June 2020 . Al Baha . Al Makhwa, Shada Al Aala , 2 females, 8 April 2019 . Al Makhwa, Nawan , near sea, 17 females, 1 male from Dipterygium glaucum [ Capparidaceae ], 1 female from Acacia ehrenbergiana , 10 April 2019 .

Comments. The new species is the fourth member of the genus having long paired processes on tergite IX of males, the other three that share this condition being E. shirabudinensis , E. antilope ( Bhatti et al. 2003; zur Strassen and van Harten 2008) and another new species described in this paper (see below). However, males of this new species can be distinguished by the strongly transverse and narrow pore plates on sternites III–VII, whereas the other two species lack sternal pore plates ( Bhatti et al. 2003; Minaei 2012). Moreover, ocellar setae pair II arises lateral to the fore ocellus in the new species, but in E. shirabudinensis and E. antilope ocellar setae pairs I and II arise in front of the fore ocellus (zur Strassen 1975).

Figures

Figures 1–6. Antennae: (1) Aptinothrips rufus (Haliday); (2–6) Eremiothrips Priesner: (2) E. aldryhimi sp. nov., (3) E. arya (zur Strassen), (4) E. efflatouni (Priesner), (5) E. similis Bhatti, (6) E. unicolour sp. nov.

Figures 22–31. Eremiothrips species. Male tergite IX: (22) E. aldryhimi sp. nov., (23) E. arya (zur Strassen), (24) E. efflatouni (Priesner), (25) E. similis Bhatti, (26) E. unicolour sp. nov. Male sternites III–VII: (27) E. aldryhimi sp. nov., (28) E. arya (zur Strassen), (29) E. efflatouni (Priesner), (30) E. similis Bhatti, (31) E. unicolour sp. nov.

Figures 32–37. Eremiothrips species. Head and pronotum: (32) E. aldryhimi sp. nov., (33) E. efflatouni (Priesner), (34) E. similis Bhatti, (35) E. unicolour sp. nov. Mouth cones: (36) E. aldryhimi sp. nov., (37) E. unicolour sp. nov.

Figures 38–45. Eremiothrips species. E. aldryhimi sp. nov.: (38) female, (39) male. (40) E. efflatouni (Priesner). E. similis Bhatti: macropterous (41) female, (42) male; (43) micropterous male. E. unicolour sp. nov.: (44) female, (45) male.