Holopothrips infestans, 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 : 46-48

Holopothrips infestans sp. n.

( Figs 112–119 )

Diagnostic features. Body (except antenna) uniformly brown; maxillary stylets parallel; one pair of long pronotal setae on epimeral region; metanotal sculpture with weakly defined reticles, without internal markings; pelta somewhat constricted medially and with broad basal wings; third pair of abdominal WR mostly absent; male with single median pore plate on sternite VIII; female spermatheca not enlarged.

Macropterous female: Body ( Fig. 112 ) uniformly brown, with fore tibia and fore tarsi yellow, tergite X dark brown on basal half and lighter on apical half. Antennal segment I concolourous with head, II brown on basal half and yellow on apical half, III–IV yellow, V–VI yellow shaded light brown on apical half, VII light brown with base yellow, VIII light brown. Fore wings weakly shaded, without median dark line, clavus shaded; major body setae brownish yellow.

Head ( Fig. 113 ) length and width behind eyes subequal, sometimes very slightly longer, dorsal surface with transverse lines of sculpture, cheeks slightly curved. Eyes well-developed, dorsal length about 0.4 of head length; po with slightly expanded to capitate apex, slightly shorter than the dorsal width of the eye. Maxillary stylets parallel, reaching po level and about a fourth of head width apart. Mouth cone ( Fig. 114 ) with pointed tip, reaching the posterior margin of fore coxae. Antennal segments III and IV with 3 sense cones each.

Pronotum ( Fig. 113 ) trapezoidal, surface smooth medially, with few lines enclosing irregular elongate reticles near posterior margin; epimeral sutures incomplete and short. Five major pairs of pronotal setae, one pair on epimeral region; am small or reduced with acute tip, aa, ml, ep and pa well-developed and with slightly expanded to capitate tips. Basantra absent; prosternal ferna well-developed, close medially but not touching, anterior margins weakly produced. Mesonotum ( Fig. 115 ) with reticulation medially, some almost equiangular reticles surrounded by elongated reticles or transverse lines; internal markings on sculpture absent. Metanotum ( Fig. 116 ) with faint irregular reticles, longitudinally elongated laterally, internal markings on sculpture absent; two to five anterior discal setae and one pair of median major setae present. Fore tarsal hamus not enlarged. Fore wings with 10 to 14 duplicated cilia.

Pelta ( Fig. 117 ) weakly bell-shaped, anterior margin rounded or with a projection ending in a straight margin, with wide lateral wings; paired campaniform sensilla present. Sculpture covering the whole pelta, sometimes weaker medially; almost equiangular reticles medially, elongated near anterior and posterior margins, internal markings on sculpture absent. Tergite II ( Fig. 117 ) with small irregular reticles medially and elongated anterolaterally; sculpture 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 finely acute apexes. Tube about 0.85 of head length and about 2.0 times as long as greatest width near base, apical width about 0.5 of basal width. Spermatheca ( Fig. 119 ) S-shaped, slightly thickened medially but not swollen.

Measurements (female holotype in microns): Length about 2548, head length 240, width behind eyes 212, po length 62, eye dorsal length 97; median length of pronotum 157, width across ep 312, am 12, aa 46, ml 85, ep 107, pa 95; width of mesonotum 350; fore wing length 1020; tergite IX setae S1 192, S2 250, S3 237; tergite X length 205, basal width 100, apical width 45; length(width) of antennal segments III–VIII 72 (30), 65(32), 65(29), 69(27), 62(25), 30(14), respectively.

Macropterous male: Similar to female in both colouration and structure, but slightly smaller. Pore plate ( Fig. 118 ) with reticulate texture and present on sternite VIII, a thin transverse band posterior to discal setae.

Measurements (male paratype in microns): Length about 2153; head length 212, width behind eyes 197, po length 57, eye dorsal length 87; median length of pronotum 147, width across ep 275, am 7, aa 25, ml 60, ep 97, pa 86; width of mesonotum 287; fore wing length 840; tergite IX setae S1 250, S2 265, S3 262; tergite X length 170, basal width 87, apical width 42; length(width) of antennal segments III–VIII 70 (30), 60(30), 65(27), 65(25), 60(22), 36(14), respectively.

Larvae: Body largely yellow but with conspicuous rings of red internal pigmentation on thorax and abdomen.

Material studied. Holotype female, Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul, São Francisco de Paula, in Acca sellowiana leaves, 28.ix.2013 (Cavalleri, A.), at UFRGS. Slide code UFRGS 3209 .

Paratypes: 4 males and 3 females collected with holotype, at UFRGS. Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul, São Francisco de Paula ( FLONA), 1 male, 2 females and 5 larvae in Acca sellowiana galls, 17.i.2014 (Cavalleri, A.), at UFRGS. 1 female in Acca sellowiana galls, 17.i.2014 (Cavalleri, A.), at ANIC.

Non-type specimens: 3 males and 3 females, Brazil, Santa Catarina, Videira, in Acca sellowiana, 18.xii.1989 (Hickel, E. R.) ; 2 males, Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul, São Francisco de Paula, in Acca sellowiana leaves, 13.x.2006 (Cavalleri, A.) ; same locality, 1 male and 1 female, in Acca sellowiana galls, 1.i.2007 (Cavalleri, A.) ; same locality, 4 males and 3 females, in Acca sellowiana, 30.xii.2007 (Cavalleri, A.) ; 1 male and 1 female, Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul, Jaquirana, in Acca sp., 28.i.2013 (Cavalleri, A.); all at UFRGS .

Etymology. Named in reference to the damage this species causes to leaves of Acca sellowiana ( Fig. 11 ).

Comments. Most specimens of this species lack the third pair of WR, similar to H. flavisetis and H. inconspicuus , but otherwise fit the diagnostic characters of the genus. It can be distinguished from these two species for having the head slightly longer than wide ( Fig. 113 ) and female spermatheca not enlarged medially ( Fig. 119 ). Holopothrips infestans is structurally very similar to H. acrioris and H. conducans , sharing with them the pattern of metanotal sculpture ( Fig. 116 ) and the reduced pore plates of males ( Fig. 118 ), but differs from both species in having only one pair of epimeral setae ( Fig. 113 ) and pelta with a weak constriction near base ( Fig. 117 ). Apparently, H. infestans feeds only on Acca sellowiana, on which it induces characteristic rolled leaf-margin galls ( Fig. 11 ). This thrips is referred to as a pest of feijoa by Hickel & Ducroquet (1993) in Santa Catarina, South Brazil, and mentioned as ‘ Phrasterothrips sp.’ by these authors.

Figures

FIGURES 112–119. Holopothrips infestans sp. nov. holotype and paratypes. (112) body; (113) head and pronotum; (114) prosternum; (115) mesonotum; (116) metanotum; (117) pelta and abdominal tergite II; (118) pore plate on abdominal sternite VIII; (119) 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).