Podothrips websteri, Mound & Minaei, 2007

Mound, Laurence A. & Minaei, Kambiz, 2007, Australian thrips of the Haplothrips lineage (Insecta: Thysanoptera), Journal of Natural History 41 (45 - 48), pp. 2919-2978 : 2972-2973

Podothrips websteri sp. nov.

Female microptera. Bicoloured, head, antennal segment I, and base of II brown, also abdominal segments VIII–X, rest of body and legs yellow (Figure 71). Structure typical of group, except antennal segment III conical without lateral swelling; fore tarsal tooth not large; fore tibia with sub-apical setal-bearing tubercle very small; fore wing shorter than width of thorax; mesopresternum fully developed; tergites II–VII with anterior pair of wingretaining setae very small and straight, also posterior pair on II and VII; major setae all capitate except S3 on tergite IX.

Measurements of holotype female (in M m). Body length 1950. Head, length 196; median width 272; postocular setae 28. Pronotum, length 152; width 220; major setae am 3, aa 12, ml 3, epim 28, pa 24. Fore wing length 120. Tergite IX setae S1 50, S2 78, S3 88. Tube length 116; basal width 56; anal setae 80. Antennal segments III–VIII length 40, 46, 44, 40, 42, 30.

Male microptera. Similar to female but smaller. Tergite IX setae S2 stout but 0.8 as long as setae S1.

Female macroptera. Similar to micropterae. Fore wing pale without duplicated cilia; subbasal setae scarcely 15 Mm; anterior pair of tergal setae small and straight.

Material examined

Holotype ♀ microptera: Australian Capital Territory, Black Mtn , base of native Poa , 8 August 2003 (Kenneth Webster) . Paratypes: 1♀, 1 „ taken with holotype; 1♀ at same site, 7 December 2003; 1 „ ditto, 9 April 1995; New South Wales, 20 km W of Coonabarabran , 4♀ micropterae, 1♀ macroptera from base of native Poa , 12 March 2006.

Comments

One female paratype collected with the holotype has the tube unusually short and presumably aberrant. Although some of the character states in the description are associated with micropterae, the body colour of this species is unique.

Podothrips xanthopus Hood

Podothrips xanthopus Hood 1919, p 82 .

This is a widespread species in the coastal regions of Queensland and New South Wales north of Sydney, but has also been taken in the central parts of Northern Territory near Tennant Creek. Throughout this range, P. xanthopus is uniform in structure and colour pattern (Figure 68). In contrast, the new species P. anomalus varies in colour pattern, judging from specimens taken widely across the tropical parts of northern Australia.

Priesneria Bagnall

Priesneria Bagnall 1926, p 549 . Type species: Priesneria kellyana Bagnall.

Although treated by Pitkin (1973) as a genus with two species from Australia and one each from India and New Caledonia, the phylogenetic position of these taxa is far from clear. They all share a curious ring-like swelling near the base of the third antennal segment ( Figure 5 ), but a similar structure occurs in various species within unrelated genera, as discussed above under character states of the Haplothripini . The type species of the genus has the two terminal antennal segments broadly joined, forming a single outline, and there is only one sensorium on the third segment and two on the fourth; these character states also occur in the closely related new species described below. The pseudovirga at the apex of the aedeagus in males of these two species is slender but apparently rather shorter than is described for any Haplothrips species. In contrast, the Australian species, P. longistylosa , has the eighth antennal segment long and slender, unlike that of any other member of the Haplothripini , and has two sensoria on the third segment and four on the fourth. This species seems unlikely to be closely related to the first two species. The two non-Australian species have two sensoria on the third and fourth antennal segments, but have not been re-examined for this study. A macropterous female and an apterous male from Mt Tamborine, Queensland, considered by Pitkin (1973) to represent this genus, possibly belong to the South African genus Talitha Faure , otherwise unknown in Australia, because the male has a glandular area on sternite VIII and the setae on the ninth tergite are longer than the tube.

Figures

Figures 1–15. (1) Bagnalliella nigricoxae, holotype. (2) Dyothrips pallescens, pronotum. (3) Dolichothrips reuteri, mouth cone. (4) Androthrips monsterae, fore femora. (5) Priesneria peronis, antenna. (6) Karnyothrips melaleucus, head, pronotum, and fore legs. (7) Euoplothrips bagnalli, fore legs of small and large males. (8) Mesothrips jordani, head. (9) Haplothrips acaciae, head and pronotum. (10) H. anceps, head, pronotum, and right fore leg. (11) H. acaciae, pelta. (12) H. anceps pelta. (13) H. angusi pelta. (14) H. avius, head. (15) H. angusi, prosternites.