Pennathrips, Goldarazena & Michel & Mound, 2021

Goldarazena, Arturo, Michel, Bruno & Mound, Laurence, 2021, Pennathrips (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), a new panchaetothripine genus from New Caledonia, Zootaxa 5016 (1), pp. 142-146 : 142-144

Pennathrips gen. n

Both sexes macropterous with strong sculpture ( Fig. 1 ). Antennae 7-segmented ( Fig. 6 ), segment III with sub-basal flange, III–V slender at base, VI broad at base; sense cones on III and IV short and forked with ventral branch of each fork curving around segment apex. Head ( Fig. 2 ) with raised sculpture, ocellar region projecting; genae narrowed to base and shorter than eye length. Pronotum ( Fig. 2 ) reticulate with smooth median transverse band; with one pair a long pale discal setae anteromedially, but without long posteroangular setae; anterior angles protruding. Mesonotum with longitudinal median division ( Fig. 9 ); metascutum with prominent sculptured triangle, median setae arising on posterior half of sclerite; metascutellum with reticulate sculpture. Meso and metafurcae transverse. Thoracic sternites as in Bhattithrips . Fore wing first vein fused to costa, with group of about 3 stout dark setae at veinal fork ( Fig. 7 ); first vein with about 10 setae distal to fork, all with longitudinal ridges; second vein with about 4 setae distal to fork; wing apex rounded with 2 or 3 prominent long setae ( Fig. 8 ); anterior margin with cilia only on distal half of wing, posteromarginal cilia wavy; clavus with 3 veinal but no discal setae. Tarsi all 1-segmented. Abdominal tergite I without sculpture but with toothed craspedum ( Figs 3 , 9 ); tergite II sharply constricted at base ( Fig. 3 ), submedially with paired group of concentric sculpture lines and microtrichia; tergites III–VIII ( Fig. 4 ) without sculpture medially; tergites III–VI (or VII) with submedian paired areas of weakly invaginated sculpture bearing slender microtrichia at dorso-ventral muscle insertion points; tergites IV–VIII with setal pair S2 much stouter than setae S1; tergites VII–VIII each with median seta on antecostal ridge; IX much shorter than VIII ( Fig. 11 ) with setal pair S1 shorter than S2 and S3; X slightly asymmetric, fully divided medially; terminal setae short and stout. Sternites III–VII submedially with transversely oval sculptured invaginations ( Fig. 5 ), posteromarginal setae all small. Male tergite IX median dorsal setae slender; sternites V–VII each with small median pore plate ( Fig. 10 ).

Comments. This new genus shares with the Astrothrips group of panchaetothripine genera the sharp anterior constriction of the first abdominal tergite ( Wilson 1975, Mound et al. 2001). Within this group it shares with the Australian endemic genus Bhattithrips the complete longitudinal division of the mesonotum, the presence on abdominal tergite II of submedian sculptured areas, and the presence of sculptured invaginations on sternites III–VII (also more weakly on tergites) at the insertion points of the dorso-ventral muscles ( Mound & Tree 2020). However, in contrast to the four Bhattithrips species the fore wing veins bear prominent major setae. Pennathrips also shares with the monotypic New Zealand endemic genus, Sigmothrips , the complete longitudinal division of the mesonotum, and the form and sculpture of abdominal tergite II, but in Sigmothrips there are no modifications to the tergites or sternites in association with the dorsoventral muscles, and the fore wings have no large setae ( Mound et al. 2017). These three genera seem to be closely related, and the reduction in size of the fore wing setae in Bhattithrips and Sigmothrips is possibly another of the “loss apomorphies” that seem to be common amongst Thysanoptera . This brings to 42 the number of recent genera now recognized in the Panchaetothripinae , with three more known only from fossils (ThripsWiki 2021).

Figures

FIGURES 1‒7. Pennathrips bournierorum sp.n.: (1) female holotype; (2) head and pronotum; (3) tergites I–III; (4) tergites V–VII; (5) sternites V–VII; (6) left antenna.

FIGURES 7‒11. Pennathrips bournierorum sp.n.: (7) left fore wing; (8) fore wing apex; (9) mesonotum, metanotum and tergite I; (10) male sternites V–VII (arrows indicate pore plates); (11) female tergites VIII–X.