Eremiothrips unicolour, Rasool & Abdel-Dayem & Alattal & Aldhafer, 2021

Rasool, Iftekhar, Abdel-Dayem, Mahmoud S., Alattal, Yehya Zaki & Aldhafer, Hathal M., 2021, The Anaphothrips genus-group of Thripidae (Thysanoptera) from Saudi Arabia with two new species of Eremiothrips, Journal of Natural History 55 (25 - 26), pp. 1599-1617 : 1611-1612

Eremiothrips unicolour sp. nov.

( Figures 6 , 26, 31 , 35, 37 , 44–45 )

Female macroptera ( Figure 44 ). Body pale yellow without any traces of shading; antennal segments I–II pale, III–V pale except grey at extreme apex, VI–IX shaded grey; fore wings, legs and all major setae pale yellow.

Head wider than long; ocellar setae pair III arising within the triangle, about as long as or shorter than distance between their bases ( Figure 35 ), ocellar triangle smooth, without sculpture; antennae 9-segmented ( Figure 6 ), sense cone on segments III and IV forked, VI with inner sense cone reaching to the middle of segment VIII; VII with outer sense cone short, hardly reaching middle of VIII ( Figure 6 ).

Pronotum wider than long with transverse striae and numerous discal setae, anterior margin with 5 and posterior margin with 3 pairs of setae, as long as discal setae; 1 pair of posteroangular setae present ( Figure 35 ); metanotum with equiangular cells medially, without campaniform sensilla, median pair of setae as long as pronotal posteroangular setae. Fore wing first vein with 6–7 setae on basal half and 3 widely spaced setae distally, second vein with about 10 setae; posteromarginal cilia wavy.

Abdominal tergites with transverse lines, tergites II–VII with 1 pair of campaniform sensilla posterolateral to median setae, VIII–IX with 2 pairs of campaniform sensilla; posterior margin of tergite VIII with weak and irregular comb of microtrichia; X without median dorsal split. Sternites with weak transverse lines, without discal setae, sternites V– VII posteromarginal setae S1, S2 more than half as long as sternite; sternite VII with posteromarginal setae S1 arising in front of margin.

Measurements (Holotype female). Body length 990. Head length 65, width 130; ocellar setae III 12. Pronotum length 95, width 162; posteroangular setae 20. Metanotal median setae 20. Fore wing length 505. Tergite IX setae S1 45, S2 50. Antennal segments I–IX length: 15, 30, 35, 32, 30, 30, 10, 10, 15.

Paratype females. Body length 990–1090. Head length 65–72, width 130–136; ocellar setae III 12. Pronotum length 90–98, width 160–165; posteroangular setae 20–22. Metanotal median setae 20–22. Fore wing length 480–570. Tergite IX setae S1 45 –50, S2 55 –57. Antennal segments I–IX length: 15–16, 30–32, 32–35, 29–32, 27–30, 30–32, 10–11, 10, 15.

Male macroptera ( Figure 45 ). Similar to females in structure except for smaller size; tergite IX with paired processes dark brown, medially curved and 95–100 microns long ( Figure 26 ); sternites III–VII with small, hardly visible pore plates (pore plate on segment III not visible in one male) ( Figure 31 ).

Measurements (Paratype male). Body length 740–840. Head length 55–70, width 100– 120; ocellar setae III 10. Pronotum length 70–75, width 130–140; posteroangular setae 15– 18. Metanotal median setae 12–15. Fore wing length 415–460. Pore plates on sternites III– VII: width (length), III 8 (6), IV 8 (6), V 10–12 (7–8), VI 10–12 (7–8), VII 7–8 (6–7); tergite IX paired processes length 90–100. Antennal segments I–IX length: 14–15, 28–30, 28–30, 28– 30, 25–27, 25–28, 10, 10, 15.

Etymology

The name unicolour refers to the unicolourous body of this species.

Material examined

Holotype female. Saudi Arabia, Al Baha, Baljurashi, Al saad Janabeen , beaten from Commiphora sp. , 22 September 2020 (19.881683°N, 41.704017°E alt. 1914 m) (I. Rasool) ( KSMA).

Paratypes: same data as holotype, 21 females, 6 males, 4 larvae; Qilwa, Ramziyah, 19 females, 2 males, 7 larvae from unknown plant, 25 September 2020 (I. Rasool) ( KSMA) .

Comments. This new species is unique among members of Eremiothrips in having such a long mouth cone. It shares with E. shirabudinensis , E. antilope and E. aldryhimi sp. nov. similarly long paired processes on tergite IX of males. However, both sexes of this new species have an exceptionally long mouth cone, reaching to the posterior margin of the pronotum (in contrast to a short mouth cone), and the unicolourous pale yellow body lacks any trace of grey or light brown shading (in contrast to grey shading present on abdomen and pterothorax). Moreover, the male of this new species can be distinguished from the former three by the small and oval pore plates on sternites III–VII. In contrast, males of E. shirabudinensis and E. antilope lack pore plates ( Bhatti et al. 2003; Minaei 2012) and in E. aldryhimi sp. nov. the pore plates are strongly narrow and transverse.

Figures

Figures 1–6. Antennae: (1) Aptinothrips rufus (Haliday); (2–6) Eremiothrips Priesner: (2) E. aldryhimi sp. nov., (3) E. arya (zur Strassen), (4) E. efflatouni (Priesner), (5) E. similis Bhatti, (6) E. unicolour sp. nov.

Figures 22–31. Eremiothrips species. Male tergite IX: (22) E. aldryhimi sp. nov., (23) E. arya (zur Strassen), (24) E. efflatouni (Priesner), (25) E. similis Bhatti, (26) E. unicolour sp. nov. Male sternites III–VII: (27) E. aldryhimi sp. nov., (28) E. arya (zur Strassen), (29) E. efflatouni (Priesner), (30) E. similis Bhatti, (31) E. unicolour sp. nov.

Figures 32–37. Eremiothrips species. Head and pronotum: (32) E. aldryhimi sp. nov., (33) E. efflatouni (Priesner), (34) E. similis Bhatti, (35) E. unicolour sp. nov. Mouth cones: (36) E. aldryhimi sp. nov., (37) E. unicolour sp. nov.

Figures 38–45. Eremiothrips species. E. aldryhimi sp. nov.: (38) female, (39) male. (40) E. efflatouni (Priesner). E. similis Bhatti: macropterous (41) female, (42) male; (43) micropterous male. E. unicolour sp. nov.: (44) female, (45) male.