Psephenothrips uttarakhandensis, Patidar & Singha & Kumar & Tyagi, 2022

Patidar, Abhishek, Singha, Devkant, Kumar, Vikas & Tyagi, Kaomud, 2022, A new species of Psephenothrips (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae) with one new record from India, Zootaxa 5159 (3), pp. 440-444 : 441

Psephenothrips uttarakhandensis sp. n.

Female macroptera. Body dark brown, all femora and tibiae dark brown, fore tarsi yellowish brown, mid and hind tarsi brown ( Fig. 1 ). Antennal segments I–II, VII–VIII brown; III yellow; IV–V yellow with brown apically; VI brown with yellow basally. Fore wings pale with brown basally.

Head longer than broad ( Fig. 3 ); dorsal surface with tranverse anastomosing straie; Postocular setae longer than eyes, blunt apically; cheeks weakly rounded with four minute setae; maxillary stylets very long, reaching eyes, almost touching each other. Eyes 0.29–0.35 times as long as head. Mouthcone long, touching almost the level of anterior margin of ferna. Antennae 8-segmented; III with one sense cone and VI with three sense cones; VIII shorter than VII ( Fig. 7 ). Pronotum 2.1–2.3 times as broad as long, surface smooth with a short median longitudinal line; with five pairs of major setae, long, blunt apically ( Fig. 3 ); posteroangular setae longest, almost as long as pronotum length. Mesopraesternum boat shaped ( Fig. 5 ). Metanotum weakly reticulate; metathoracic sternopleural sutures absent. Fore wing with 21–24 duplicated cilia, with three basal setae, blunt apically. Pelta with polygonal reticulation ( Fig. 6 ). Abdominal tergite IX with S1 and S2 setae narrowly blunt and 0.6–0.8 times as long as the tube. Tube shorter than head, and anal setae subequal to tube ( Fig. 4 ).

Measurements. (holotype female in microns). Body length 3524. Dorsal head length 320, across cheeks 250; compound eye dorsal length (width) 93(68); postocular seta length 124. Pronotum median width (length) 381 (163). Anteroangular setae 53, anteromarginal setae 35, midlateral setae 88–91, posteroangular setae 150, epimeral setae 115. Antennal segments I–VIII length (width): 42 (45), 53 (38), 90 (36), 91 (44), 80 (36), 71 (35), 59 (29), 39 (13). Fore wing basal setae length S1 92, S2 115, S3 115. Pelta length (width at base) 139 (260); tergite X setae S1 190–196; tube length 257, width at base 98, at apex 44; anal setae length 254–257.

Specimens studied. Holotype female, India, Uttarakhand, Nainital , (N29.37, E79.51, 1614 m) from Cinnamomum tamala , 09.iii.2020 holotype (Reg. No. 11682/H17) by Kaomud Tyagi, Vikas Kumar and Abhishek Patidar, deposited at the NZC, Kolkata, India . Paratypes: 6 females, all from same locality as holotype (Reg. No. 11679/H17 to 11681/H17, 11683/H17, 12009/H17, 12010/H17) .

Etymology. This species is named after the type locality.

Comments. According to the key of Tyagi and Kumar (2012) as well as Dang et al. (2021), Psephenothrips uttarakhandensis sp. n. is close to P. leptoceras and P. machili . It can be differentiated from P. leptoceras by the absence of metathoracic sternopleural sutures (distinct metathoracic sternopleural sutures are present in P. leptoceras ), antennal segment VIII shorter than VII (VIII longer than VII in P. leptoceras ), posteroangular setae longer than epimerals (subequal to epimerals in P. leptoceras ), anteroangular setae longer than the anteromarginals (anteroangular setae subequal to anteromarginals in P. leptoceras ). The new species is also differentiated by P. machili by fore tibiae colour (brown in the new species versus brown in basal ½ and pale in apical ½ in P. machili ), postocular setae (longer than eyes in the new species versus as long as or shorter than eyes in P. machili ), and posteroangular setae (as long as the length of the pronotum versus half the length of the pronotum in P. machili ).

Figures

FIGURES 1–7. (1) Psephenothrips uttarakhandensis sp. n. Female; (2) Neohydatothrips xestosternitus, Female. Psephenothrips uttarakhandensis, Female, 3–7: (3) Head and pronotum; (4) Tergites IX–X; (5) Prosternum; (6) Pelta; (7) Antenna.