Thrips subnudula (Karny)

Ng, Y. F. & Mound, L. A., 2020, Character state variation among species of Thrips genus (Thysanoptera) in Malaysia, with one new species and two new records, Zootaxa 4852 (2), pp. 239-245 : 243-244

Thrips subnudula (Karny)

( Figs 14, 15 )

This distinctive species was described from India in a monobasic genus Ramaswamiahiella but was placed by Palmer (1992) in her “Group IV” of genus Thrips . The species in that group bear an unusually large number of setae, on the pronotum ( Fig. 14 ), sternites and pleurotergites. T. subnudula is unusual in having the sternal posteromarginal setae duplicated, such that there are usually 12 setae across the margins of sternites III–VI. There are 14–16 sternal discal setae, and 4–8 pleurotergal discal setae ( Fig. 15 ). It is a small pale species, with 7-segmented antennae, ocellar setae pair III arising behind the first ocellus, and with the posteromarginal comb on tergite VIII broadly interrupted medially. In India this species is associated with the weedy plant Parthenium hysterophorus , but it has been found widely across Asia between Pakistan and northern Australia. It is also recorded from Nigeria ( Palmer 1992) and apparently Uganda and South Africa (see zur Strassen list in ThripsWiki 2020), but this is the first record of the species from Malaysia.

Specimens studied: MALAYSIA, Selangor, Kajang Utama , 6 females, 3 males without host record, 14.iv.2012 (Ng, Y.F.) (in Centre for Insect Systematics, UKM, Malaysia) .

Figures

FIGURES 13–15. Thrips brevistylus (13) Meso- and metanotum; Thrips subnudula (14) Pronotum, meso- and metanotum, (15) abdominal stenites III–VI.