Astrothrips glanduculus, Li & Mound & Xie & Zhang, 2021

Li, Yajin, Mound, Laurence A., Xie, Yanlan & Zhang, Hongrui, 2021, Species of Astrothrips from China, with one new species and a list of plant associations (Thysanoptera, Panchaetothripinae), Zootaxa 4920 (2), pp. 267-277 : 271-272

Astrothrips glanduculus sp.n.

( Figs 1–4, 8 , 14, 15 , 22, 23, 24 )

Female macroptera. Body dark brown ( Fig. 1 ), with abdominal segments VIII–X slightly paler; all femora brown; fore tibiae and tarsi golden yellow; middle tibiae golden yellow at base and apex but dark brown medially; hind tibiae and tarsi yellow; antennal segments golden yellow ( Fig. 24 ); fore wings with base golden yellow, with submedian and sub-apical dark bands, apex pale yellow, setae on pale parts light yellow ( Fig. 23 ); clavus brown with apex slightly paler.

Head with complete flange on cheeks, anterior margin of head covered by a flange of raised sculpture ( Fig. 15 ). Cheeks narrowing to base then sharply constricted, ocellar hump developed, over-reaching frontal costa when head is titled forwards; posterior dorsum with some reticles arranged in 5 rows; vertex with about 11 large reticles across posterior dorsum of head in a crescentic series. Ocellar region strongly elevated; postocellar setae II and III present, setae III longer than setae II. Antennae without microtrichia, apparently 7-segmented ( Fig. 24 ), suture sometimes weakly developed between morphological VI and VII; III–IV with sense cone simple, III with basal neck much longer than apical; long sense cone on VI not surpassing apex of antennae.

Pronotum ( Fig. 15 ) wider than long, anterior half with raised sculpture, posterior half weakly reticulate; posteromarginal apodeme forming a thick ridge, with a margin of raised sculpture, sometimes a dark brown bridge present across the middle defining a rectangle on the posterior half of the pronotum ( Fig. 14 ); anterior and posterior marginal setae small, lateral and posterior discal setae fusiform. Anterior and posterior margin of mesoscutum notched along mid-line, length of median part as long as the length of combined notched portion ( Fig. 22 ). Two pairs of median setae well developed, the inner pair about 1.5 times longer than the outer pair, not lying in the same level, the inner pair situated anterior to the outer pair. Metascutal triangle distinctly formed, uniformly reticulate, with a thick heavy median longitudinal ridge of sculpture, posterior process stout with a broad transverse apical fork; median setae on posterior half, metanotal campaniform sensilla present; metascutellum almost smooth ( Fig. 22 ). Fore wing ( Fig. 23 ) bearing stout setae, costal setae shorter than costal cilia; posteromarginal cilia wavy; costa with 16–18 setae, first vein with 11–15 setae and second vein with 8–11 setae; clavus with 5 marginal setae, discal setae absent.

Abdominal tergite I with weak, irregular transverse reticulations; tergite II with anterior margin strongly constricted, and anterolaterally with a group of prominent strongly recurved microtrichia; tergites III–VII with transverse reticulation on anterior half and laterotergites, anterior margin with a thick costal line ( Fig. 8 ); VIII with no posteromarginal comb; X divided longitudinally. Both sternites and tergites with craspedum on posterior margin; sternites II–VII with weak reticulations and three pairs of posteromarginal setae, except for S1 and S2 on sternite VII, all the setae are situated in front of posterior margin.

Measurements (holotype female in microns). Body length 1375. Head, length 150; width across eyes 210. Pronotum, length 119; maximum width 221. Fore wing length 870. Antennal segments III–VII length 70, 55, 41, 21, 30.

Male macroptera. Similar to but paler than female ( Fig. 2 ); color of abdominal tergites changes from brown to golden yellow, segments I–II darkest, tergite X most pale; fore wing with a dark band sub-medially, sometimes the sub-apical dark band paler or absent.Abdominal tergite IX with three pairs of setae, S1 and S2 are almost situated in a line, S3 setae situated behind S1 and S2 ( Fig. 3 ); sternites IV or V–VII with a pore plate on posterior half each of which is no more than 10 microns in diameter ( Fig. 4 ); this minute pore plate varies in shape from transverse (10x4 microns) to sub-circular (4 microns).

Measurements (paratype male in microns). Body length 1281. Head, length 113; width across eyes 166. Pronotum, length 111; maximum width 178. Fore wing length 713. Antennal segments III–VII length 64, 46, 37, 19, 34.

Material studied. Holotype female: CHINA, Yunnan Province, Wuding County, Chuxiong Prefecture, Lion Mountain (25°32′N, 102°22′ E), from fern, 25.x.2016 (Zhang Hong-Rui & Li Ya-Jin), in collection of Yunnan Ag- ricultural University, Kunming.

Paratypes: 17 females, 10 males, same data with holotype. Lion Mountain , 1 female from Pleioblastus maculatus , 1 female from Quercus sp., 2 females, unknown, 15.iv.2015; Pingbian County, Dawei Mountain , 1 female from Loropetalum chinense , 1 female from Gardneria multiflora , 1 female from Acer fabri , 3.viii.2017 ( Li Ya-jin ) ( YNAU) . 2 females, 1 male, same data with holotype ; 2 females from fern, 1 male, unknown, 25.x.2016; 1 male from Gahnia , 16.v.2018 ( Li Ya-jin ) ( ANIC) .

Etymology. The specific name glanduculus is in reference to the minute pore plate on the abdominal sternites of males.

Comments. Based on the keys, comments and illustrations provided by Bhatti (1968) and Wilson (1975) this new species is similar to lantana, a species known only from two females taken in central India. The antennae of the new species are closely similar to the available illustration of lantana, but the latter is illustrated as having the pronotum evenly reticulate across the entire surface, in contrast to the transverse band without reticulation in glanduculus ( Figs 14, 15 ). Moreover, the ocellar hump of glanduculus is much greater than that illustrated for lantana. The transverse band on the posterior third of the pronotum varies in shape ( Figs 14, 15 ), but the submarginal ridge extends fully across the pronotal posterior margin. Males of Astrothrips species usually have V- or U-shaped sternal pore plates, but glanduculus is the first species to be described as having a minute circular pore plate on some of these sternites.

Figures

FIGURES 1–8. Astrothrips species. 1–4 A. glanduculus sp.n (1) Female; (2) Male; (3) Abdominal tergites VII–X of male; (4) Abdominal sternites V–VII of male. 5–6 globiceps. (5) Abdominal sternites IV–VII of male; (6) Abdominal tergites VIII–X of female; (7) Abdominal tergites VIII–X of chisinliaoensis; (8) Abdominal tergites VI–VII of glanduculus.

FIGURES 9–16. Head and pronotum of Astrothrips species. (9) aucubae; (10) globiceps; (11) chisinliaoensis (12) strasseni; (13) tumiceps; (14) Pronotum of glanduculus (variant); (15) glanduculus; (16) asiaticus.

FIGURES 17–26. Astrothrips species. 17–18, 20–22. Meso-metanotum of Astrothrips species (17) strasseni; (18) chisinliaoensis; (19) Antennae of aucubae; (20) aucubae; (21) tumiceps; (22) glanduculus; (23) Fore wing of glanduculus; 24–26 Antennae of Astrothrips species (24) glanduculus; (25) chisinliaoensis; (26) strasseni.