Aduncothrips Ananthakrishnan, 1963

Li, Yajin, Elie, Ntirenganya, Liu, Hui & Zhang, Hongrui, 2022, Aduncothrips newly recorded from China, with three new species and a new generic synonym (Thysanoptera: Aeolothripidae), Zootaxa 5141 (1), pp. 49-59 : 50

Aduncothrips Ananthakrishnan

Erythrothrips (Aduncothrips) Ananthakrishnan, 1963: 99 . Type species Erythrothrips asiaticus Ramakrishna & Margabandhu, 1931: 1029 , by monotypy.

Desmidothrips Mound, 1977: 149 . Type species D. walkerae Mound , by original selection from two species. Syn.n.

The genus Aduncothrips has been known only from India, with the only modern redescription provided by Rachana et al. (2020). In contrast, Desmidothrips was erected for a species from New Zealand, and was compared only to three genera from the southern hemisphere in which species share the character state of the sternites bearing discal setae ( Mound 1977). At that time, it was not known that the type species of Aduncothrips also shares this condition, in contrast to the many species of the northern hemisphere genus, Aeolothrips , in which sternal discal setae are absent. In preparing the descriptions of the three new species from China given below, it was realized that the only character state to distinguish the genus Desmidothrips from Aduncothrips was the presence of a transverse dark band on the fore wings in contrast to longitudinal dark bands. However, the three new species from China are very similar to each other in sculpture and chaetotaxy, although one has fore wings with longitudinal bands and the other two species have transverse bands. Similar variation in wing pattern occurs among species of Aeolothrips in Europe and North America ( Mound et al. 2019), and wing colour patterns are not accepted as a useful generic distinction in that genus. Females of Aduncothrips have maxillary palp segment II subdivided ( Ananthakrishnan 1963, Rachana et al. 2020); a condition that also occurs in some other Aeolothripids. In the work presented here we have established that, in contrast to their conspecific females, the males of four Aduncothrips species have the maxillary palp segment II undivided, whereas in two species both sexes have this segment undivided (the male is not known in one species). Intraspecific variation has also been reported in some Desmothrips species ( Mound 1967). As a result of the generic synonymy proposed here a total of seven species are now listed in Aduncothrips .

Diagnosis. Female. Body color usually brown or darker; fore wing with longitudinal dark bands. Antennae 9-segmented, VI–IX united, sensorium on III–IV vermicular and extending around apex with internal markings, segments V–VIII with small sense-cones having elongate bases ( Fig. 9 ). Maxillary palps 3-segmented; females with segment II subdivided (except in inauditus and walkerae ), males with segment II not subdivided. Head and pronotum with transverse striae, without long setae. Mesonotum closely striate, CPS absent. Metascutum closely striate with markings between the striae. Fore tibiae with a pair of dark brown spines at apex. Abdominal tergites with transverse striae laterally; sternites with discal setae. Male. Similar to but smaller than female; tergites without tubercles, tergite I with paired longitudinal ridges, IX without claspers; sternites II–VII with 3–4 pairs of posteromarginal setae and with discal setae.

Figures

FIGURES 1–9. Aduncothrips albus sp.n. (1) Body of female; (2) Body of male; (3) Tergites VII-X of male; (4) Meso and metanotum; (5) Head and pronotum; (6) Sternites III-VII of female; (7) Tergites VIII-X of female; (8) Forewing of male; (9) Antenna.