Holopothrips flavisetis, Lindner & Ferrari & Mound & Cavalleri, 2018

Lindner, Mariana F., Ferrari, Augusto, Mound, Laurence A. & Cavalleri, Adriano, 2018, Holopothrips diversity-a Neotropical genus of gall-inducing insects (Thysanoptera, Phlaeothripidae), Zootaxa 4494 (1), pp. 1-99 : 36-39

Holopothrips flavisetis sp. n.

( Figs 88–94 )

Diagnostic features. Body (except antenna) uniformly brown; head slightly wider than long; maxillary stylets parallel, close medially and retracted beyond posterior margin of eyes; one pair of long pronotal setae on epimeral region; metanotal sculpture formed by elongate reticles, without internal markings; male with small median pore plate only on sternite VIII, interrupted medially; female spermatheca enlarged medially.

Macropterous female: Body ( Fig. 91 ) uniformly brown, with apical internal half of all femora lighter, fore femora light brown, fore tarsi brownish yellow, mid and hind tarsi light brown, tergite X dark brown basally and lighter on apical half. Antennal segments I–II light brown, II lighter on apical half, III yellow shaded light brown on apical half, IV very light brown, V–VIII light brown. Fore wings shaded, slightly darker near base, without median dark line, clavus shaded brown; major body setae yellow.

Head ( Fig. 88 ) about 0.8 times as long as width behind eyes, dorsal surface with transverse lines of sculpture, weaker medially, cheeks curved. Eyes well-developed but not as enlarged as in some Holopothrips species, dorsal length about 0.4 of head length; po with capitate apex, shorter than the dorsal length of the eye. Maxillary stylets parallel, reaching eyes, very close medially. Mouth cone with pointed tip, reaching the posterior margin of fore coxae. Antennal segment III with 2 sense cones and IV with 2 or 3 sense cones.

Pronotum ( Fig. 88 ) wide and trapezoidal, surface smooth, with few transverse lines near posterior margin; epimeral sutures incomplete. Five major pairs of pronotal setae, one pair on epimeral region; am reduced, aa, ml, ep and pa well-developed and with capitate tips. Basantra absent; prosternal ferna well-developed, touching medially. Mesonotum ( Fig. 89 ) reticulate, almost equiangular medially and elongate laterally; internal markings on sculpture absent. Metanotum ( Fig. 90 ) with faint longitudinally elongated reticles, internal markings on sculpture absent; four to six anterior discal setae and one pair of median major setae present. Fore tarsal hamus not enlarged. Fore wings with 7 to 9 duplicated cilia.

Pelta ( Fig. 92 ) triangular, anterior margin straight, with weak lateral wings in some specimens; paired campaniform sensilla present. Sculpture covering the whole pelta; irregular reticles surrounded by elongated ones medially, transversely elongated irregular reticles anteriorly, internal markings on sculpture absent. Tergite II with slightly elongated reticulation, which becomes closer to striate and less defined on further tergites. Third pair of wing retaining setae mostly absent, but sometimes a small and not curved lateral setae is close to the wing retaining pairs. Tergite IX setae S1, S2 and S3 with capitate apexes. Tube about 0.85 of head length and about 1.8 times as long as greatest width near base, apical width about 0.5 of basal width. Spermatheca ( Fig. 94 ) swollen medially.

Measurements (female holotype in microns): Length about 1906; head length 162, width behind eyes 200, po length 37, eye dorsal length 62; median length of pronotum 127, width across ep 270, am 6, aa 35, ml 35, ep 62, pa 35; width of mesonotum 287; fore wing length 720; tergite IX setae S1 82, S2 89, S3 87; tergite X length 140, basal width 75, apical width 37; length(width) of antennal segments III–VIII 60 (26), 52(29), 52(29), 55(27), 47(27), 27(12), respectively.

Macropterous male: Similar to female in both colouration and structure, but slightly smaller. Pore plate ( Fig. 93 ) with punctuate texture and present on sternite VIII, faint irregular median spots posterior to discal setae.

Measurements (male paratype in microns): Length about 1659; head length 147, width behind eyes 182, po length 29, eye dorsal length 62; median length of pronotum 112, width across ep 247, am 5, aa 27, ml 32, ep 57, pa 32; width of mesonotum 250; fore wing length 680; tergite IX setae S1 87, S2 87, S3 82; tergite X length 117, basal width 67, apical width 32; length(width) of antennal segments III–VIII 57 (25), 45(27), 50(27), 47(25), 45(22), 25(10), respectively.

Material studied. Holotype female, Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul, Jaquirana , in unidentified Myrtaceae , 28.i.2013 (Cavalleri, A.), at UFRGS. Slide code UFRGS 4115 .

Paratypes: 1 male, 1 female collected with holotype. Slide codes UFRGS 4116 and 4117, respectively.

Etymology. Species named after its light-coloured major body setae.

Comments. Holopothrips flavisetis has some uncommon characters, such as the slightly wider than long head with long maxillary stylets ( Fig. 88 ), reaching the posterior margin of eyes, and absence of the third pair of WR in all tergites. The metanotal sculpture is formed by weak slightly elongate reticles ( Fig. 90 ), similar to Holopothrips conducans (Priesner) . Holopothrips infestans sp. n. shares with this species the lack of a third WR and a similar metanotal sculpture, but the shape of the head, pelta and female spermatheca are different between these two species. Holopothrips flavisetis was studied inducing galls in an unidentified Myrtaceae in South Brazil, where the terminal leaves became twisted and red pigmented ( Fig. 10 ).

Figures

FIGURES 88–94. Holopothrips flavisetis sp. nov. holotype and paratypes. (88) head and pronotum; (89) mesonotum; (90) metanotum; (91) body; (92) pelta; (93) pore plate on abdominal sternite VIII (white arrow); (94) spermatheca.

FIGURES 10–15. Leaf-galls induced by Holopothrips (white arrows). (10) galls on Myrtaceae (by H. flavisetis); (11) galls on Acca sellowiana (by H. infestans); 12–13. galls on Ƒochysia cf. obovata (by H. kaminskii) (Photos: Lucas A. Kaminski): (12) general view; (13) opened gall; (14) galls on Miconia sp. (by H. brevicapitatum); (15) galls on Tabebuia heterophylla (by H. tabebuia) (Photo: Irma Cabrera).