Chirothripoides brahmaputrai, Tyagi, Kaomud, Mound, Laurence A. & Kumar, Vikas, 2016

Tyagi, Kaomud, Mound, Laurence A. & Kumar, Vikas, 2016, A new species of Chirothripoides (Thysanoptera: Tubulifera) from India and Malaysia, Zootaxa 4200 (2), pp. 331-334 : 332

Chirothripoides brahmaputrai sp.n.

( Figs 1–14 )

Female macroptera. With the generic characters indicated above. Body light brown; abdominal segments IX–X yellow with orange shading; legs yellow; fore wings unshaded. Head about 2.5 times longer than broad, preocular projection about 0.6 times longer than broad, postocular setae minute, pointed ( Figs 10 , 11 ). Antennal segments III–VIII cupshaped, segment II with campaniform sensilla in basal half; III and IV each with 2 stout sense cones, VIII long and slender ( Figs 2 , 13 ). Pronotal epimeral setae shorter than eyes. Basantral plate membranous but with two faint median longitudinal lines and 3 pairs of setae ( Fig. 4 ). Metanotum with elongate narrow band of linear reticulations. Fore wing with 5 duplicated cilia, basal wing setae absent. All tarsi 1-segmented ( Figs 6–8 ). Pelta triangular with few longitudinal lines of sculpture, with a pair of campaniform sensilla in paratype but only single one in holotype. Abdomen slender; tergites III–VIII each with a pair of lateral depressions; tergites with well-developed inwardly directed pair of setae at posterolateral angles; sternite VIII with 4 pairs of projections or teeth at posterior margin, median pair a little longer than lateral pair ( Figs 5 , 14 ); tube reticulate ventrally, smooth dorsally.

Measurements (holotype in microns). Total body length 1450. Head length 123, width across eyes 60, across cheeks 50; eye length 56; pronotal epimeral seta 25; fore wing length 620; fore femur length 124; pelta length 63; lateral projections of sternite VIII length 49–51, median teeth length 58; tube length about 77, basal width 41, apical width 26. Antennal segments I–VIII length (width) as follows: 22 (20); 30 (23); 27 (29); 22 (29); 20 (25); 19 (20); 22 (18); 24 (12).

Material studied. Holotype female macroptera, INDIA: Assam: Bishwanath District, on leaves of shrubs near Brahmaputra river , 13.v.2016 (Reg. No. 7447/H17), coll. Devkant, in the National Zoological Collections (NZC), Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata, India . Paratype female, MALAYSIA (Malaya), 3500 ft, Genting Tea Estate , on leaves of shrub, 6.x.1973, coll. L.A. Mound, in The Natural History Museum, London.

Comments. The paratype of this new species was listed under malayensis by Okajima (1981) but excluded from the type series of that species. In the key to species by Okajima (1981), brahmaputrai runs to couplet 4. However, it is distinguished from the two species at that point, faurei and malayensis , because they both have the mid and hind tarsi 2- segmented. Specimens of faurei in The Natural History Museum, London, include a paratype from Angola and five females from Nigeria . Among these specimens, the largest has the median teeth on sternite VIII 1.4 times as long as the lateral pair, but the smallest female has the median teeth 1.7 times as long. In contrast, malayensis has the median teeth a little shorter than the lateral pairs. The length of the teeth on sternite VIII of brahmaputrai is also different between the two specimens presented here ( Figs 5 , 14 ). In the holotype the median teeth is distinctively shorter than the lateral pair, whereas the paratype exhibits these pairs subequal in length. It is not possible to generalise from these measurements, because most species of Chirothripoides are known from very few specimens with no information about variation.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 10. Chirothripoides brahmaputrai sp. n., holotype female: (1) Female; (2) Antenna; (3) Meso- and metanota; (4) Prosternum; (5) Sternites VIII – X; (6) Fore tarsus; (7) Mid tarsus; (8) Hind tarsus; (9) Abdominal tergite I; (10) Head & pronotum with fore leg.

FIGURES 11 – 14. Chirothripoides brahmaputrai sp. n., paratype female (11) Head & pronotum; (12) Meso- and metanota; (13) Antenna; (14) Sternites VIII – X.