Sorghothrips meishanensis Chen, 1977

Masumoto, Masami & Okajima, Shûji, 2021, Contributions to the knowledge of Thysanoptera (Insecta) from Japan, Zootaxa 4970 (3), pp. 593-596 : 594

Sorghothrips meishanensis Chen ( Figs 5–8 )

Specimens examined. Japan, Ryukyu Islands, Okinawa-hontou Is., Naha-shi, Sueyoshi park: 8 females on Cymbopogon citratus [ Poaceae ], 24.xi.2014; 1 female on Cymbopogon citratus , 10.i.2015; 5 females on Cymbopogon citratus , 12.i.2015; 6 females on Cymbopogon citratus , 26.xi.2016 (all collected by K. Minoura).

Notes. This is the first record of Sorghothrips meishanensis from Japan. This genus includes five species as follows (ThripsWiki 2021): fuscus (Ananthakrishnan) and jonnaphilus (Ramakrishna) from India, longistylus (Trybom) from Egypt, and meishanensis from Taiwan and China ( Ananthakrishnan 1965; Priesner 1936; Ramakrishna 1928; Xie et al. 2012), sakagamii (Kudo) from Taiwan ( Kudo 1974). In Japanese plant quarantine however, S. jonnaphilus was intercepted on Asparagus officinalis imported from Thailand ( Masumoto et al. 2003). S. meishanensis was described from Taiwan but there is a female of S. meishanensis from Thailand in the collection of Tokyo University of Agriculture. This species can be distinguished easily from other members of the genus by having the abdominal sternites III and IV of females each with a small pore plate. Another species from Taiwan, S. sakagamii that was described in the genus Plesiothrips Hood , seems to be known only from the type series. However, sakagamii and meishanensis probably represent a single species, judging from observation of a paratype of sakagamii . Unfortunately, the sternal pore plates on this paratype are invisible because of lack of treatment with KOH solution.

Figures

FIGURES 1–8. Thysanoptera from Japan. Merothrips fusciceps, 1–3: (1) Female macroptera; (2) Female aptera; (3) Male aptera. (4) Merothrips williamsi. Sorghothrips meishanensis, 5–8: (5) Female; (6) Head to metanotum; (7) Antenna; (8) Abdominal sternites III & IV.