Hoplothrips magnaccai, Mound, Laurence A., 2017

Mound, Laurence A., 2017, Intra-specific structural variation among Hawaiian Hoplothrips (Thysanoptera, Phlaeothripidae), with ten new synonymies and one new species, ZooKeys 722, pp. 137-152 : 143-148

Hoplothrips magnaccai sp. n.

Description.

Male microptera. Head yellowish-brown and darkest around antennal bases; fore legs yellowish-brown, prothorax and pterothorax brown, abdomen paler, tube with yellow sub-apical area; mid and hind femora brown, tibiae and tarsi yellow ish; antennal segment I brown, apex of II and basal half of III yellow, rest of antenna brown; major setae pale. Head slender, twice as long as width at base, with prominent lateral tubercles behind small eyes (Fig. 1); ocelli absent; postocular setae long and acute, longer than half of head width; maxillary stylets retracted to postocular setae, close together medially; ventrally all setae small, frons of largest male with pair of large irregular tubercles, absent in small male; mouth cone short and rounded. Antennae 8-segmented (Fig. 5); major male with segment I exceptionally long; VIII narrowed to small pedicel; 3 sense cones on III, 4 on IV, sense cone length little more than half of segment width. Pronotum massive, median longitudinal apodeme weak; anteromarginal setal pair very small, posteroangular pair unusually long in smaller male; prosternal basantra absent (Fig. 4), ferna large with median margins parallel in largest male but rounded in smaller males; mesopresternum of three weakly joined small sclerites; metathoracic sternopleural sutures present but short. Fore femora elongate, extending to apical margin of head in largest male, but not beyond mid-point of head in smaller males; fore tibia with large, broadly rounded tubercle at inner apex dorsal to the normal apical seta (Fig. 2); fore tarsal tooth as long as tarsal width. Meso and metanota transverse, metanotum without sculpture medially; fore wing lobe 50 microns long, bearing one seta. Pelta broadly D-shaped (Fig. 3), posterior margin confluent with anterior margin of tergite II; tergites II–VII each with 2 pairs of short, straight wing-retaining setae; tergite IX setae shorter than tube, tube much shorter than head. Sternite VIII with slender pore plate, median length about 15 microns, extending fully across sternite; median sternites without any lateral reticulate areas.

Measurements (holotype male and smallest paratype male in microns). Body length 3500 (2900). Head, length 380 (250); width posterior to tubercles 230 (215); po setae 125 (135). Pronotum, length 500 (280); width 500 (350); major setae: aa 20 (30), ml 100 (100), epim 120 (130), pa 180 (185). Tergite IX setae, S1 180 (185), S2 75 (70), S3 180 (160). Tube length 240 (215). Antennal segments I–VIII length 100 (65), 75 (60), 115 (85), 105 (85), 90 (70), 80 (?), 60 (?), 60 (?).

Female microptera. Body and femora brown, basal half of head paler than pronotum, antennae brown except for base of segment III (Fig. 12), tibiae and tarsi shading yellowish-brown to yellow. Head with convex cheeks (Fig. 11), constricted behind small eyes with small tubercle ventro-laterally just behind eyes; ocelli absent; po setae long and acute; maxillary stylets close together medially and retracted to eyes. Pronotum transverse, ml, epim and pa setae long. Prosternal ferna large, narrowing medially; mesopresternum of three small sclerites. Tergites similar to those of male microptera.

Female macroptera. Darker than microptera, head dark brown (Fig. 7) and darker than pronotum, mid and hind tibiae mainly brown; fore wings pale. Head with cheeks convex, slightly constricted behind large eyes, without any tubercles; ocelli large, stylets retracted to eyes. Body similar to microptera; metanotum with no sculpture medially (Fig. 8); mesopresternum almost entire with three sclerites joined; fore wing with only two pairs of long sub-basal setae; tergites III–VII each with only one pair of sigmoid wing-retaining setae, anterior pair short and straight on these tergites, and both pairs short and straight on tergite II.

Measurements (macropterous female paratype in microns). Body length 3200. Head, length 300; width 250; po setae 140. Pronotum, length 230; median width 350; major setae: aa 15, am 75, ml 140, epim 130, pa 190. Fore wing length 1250; sub-basal setae 80. Posteroangular tergal setae: tergite II 30, tergite VI 180. Tergite VIII setae S1 180, S2 210, S3 240. Tube length 250. Antennal segments I–VIII length 60, 68, 100, 95, 90, 85, 60, 60.

Material studied.

Holotype male microptera, OAHU, Mokuleia Trail, from dead branches, 29.vii.2016 (LAM 6310), in BPBM, Hawaii.

Paratypes: 2 female macropterae, 6 female micropterae taken with holotype; at same site and date, 25 female macropterae (many de-alate), 3 female micropterae, 2 male micropterae (A. Wells 83, 84, 86, 87). MAUI, Io’a Needle, 2 female micropterae from dead branches, 26.vii.2016 (A.Wells 77).

Comments.

The macropterae of magnaccai are particularly unusual among Hoplothrips species, in that on tergite II both pairs of wing-retaining setae are small and straight and on each of tergites III–VII only the posterior pair is sigmoid with each anterior pair short and straight. Moreover, there are only two long sub-basal setae on each fore wing. In large males, the head of magnaccai is similar in appearance to that of two species known only from eastern USA: Hoplothrips flavicauda (Fig. 25) from several northeastern states ( Stannard 1968), and Hoplothrips mutabilis from Florida ( Hood 1955). In each of these three species, the largest short-winged males have a prominent tubercle behind the eyes, although such tubercles are not present in winged males (where known) nor in smaller short-winged males. The species most closely similar to magnaccai seems to be mutabilis , because these two share with typical Hoplothrips species both the absence of prosternal basantra (= praepectus of Stannard, 1968) and the presence in males of a transverse pore plate on sternite VIII. In contrast, both flavicauda and also Hoplothrips fungosus Moulton from eastern Asia ( Okajima 2006) are distinctive within the genus Hoplothrips for the presence of prosternal basantra (Fig. 26), and the absence in males of a pore plate on sternite VIII. This new species differs from mutabilis as follows: body and first two antennal segments brown to dark brown rather than mainly yellow, postocular setae longer in all morphs, fore wing with about 15 duplicated cilia rather than eight, and sense cones of macropterae not long and slender.