Franklinothrips tani

Mirab-Balou, Majid, Shi, Min & Chen, Xue-Xin, 2011, A new species of Franklinothrips Back (Thysanoptera: Aeolothripidae) from Yunnan, China, Zootaxa 2926, pp. 61-64 : 61-64

Franklinothrips tani Mirab-balou & Chen, sp. n.

( Figs. 1 –7)

Macropterous Female ( Fig. 1 ): Distended body length about 2.4 mm. Body dark brown except abdominal segments I– VII that paler ( Fig. 1 ), abdominal terga VIII–X darker than other segments (Fig. 6). Antennal segments I–II dark brown, III yellowish brown, IV–VI yellowish brown but darker distally, VII with basal half pale and the rest dark, VIII–IX brown (Fig. 3). Legs dark, apex of tibiae and basal half of tarsus paler. Fore wing with median transverse dark band also dark along full length of wing including clavus (Fig. 7).

Head elongate, with transverse striae; head longer than wide, completely recessed into pronotum, prolonged in front of eyes (Fig. 2); posterior ocelli about 3.5 times bigger than fore ocellus; with 5–6 pairs of postocular setae, pair I as long as ocellar setae III; maxillary palp segment II 2.9 times longer than III, segment I with long setae on apex. Antenna 9- segmented (Fig. 3); segment III longest, sensorium two-thirds as long as segment (Fig. 5), sensorium on IV extending full length of segment (Fig. 4). Antennal segments I to IX length/width: 0.9, 1.85, 14.5, 8.2, 4.7, 3.4, 3.75, 2.7, and 2.08.

Pronotum 1.4 times as wide as long, smooth, smaller than head (Fig. 2); mesonotum without striation, median pair of setae situated far from posterior margin; mesosternum entirely divided by furcal spinula; metanotal median setae situated far from anterior margin. Fore wing broad (Fig. 7); anterior and posterior vein setae well developed, pale brown, cilia straight; clavus with 6 marginal setae (Fig. 7); hind wing posterior margin darker than anterior.

Abdomen narrowly attached to thorax; terga II–VI with median setae small and wide apart; tergal median setae situated anterior to campaniform sensilla; tergum IX about 1.8 length of VIII, with two pairs of long setae situated on posterior margin; tergum X with a pair of campaniform sensilla near posterior margin, one pair of long setae posterior to campaniform sensilla, and with a pair of small trichobothria. Abdominal sterna III–VII with two pairs of marginal setae and two pairs of discal setae laterally; sternum VII with two pairs of small discal setae sub-medially. Ovipositor well developed.

Measurements (holotype in microns). Length (width). Body length 2400; head 282 (267); dorsal eye length 127, distance between to compound eyes 98. Pronotum 190 (270). Forewings 1350 [basal half pale 410, median half brown 370, distal half pale 570] (142); hind wings 1150 (117). Tergum IX median length 200, B1 setae 270, B2 seta 279; X 170, B1 setae 258, B2 seta 213. Ovipositor 490. Antenna 837; antennal segments I to IX as follows: 42(47), 51(28), 246(17), 172(21), 116(26), 75(23), 74(20), 40(15), 21(10).

Material studied. Holotype female, China, Yunnan, Cangshan Mountain, Dali (25° 41.642' N, 100° 06.701' E, 2926 m), 5.vi.2009, Jiang-Li Tan, deposited in the Institute of Insect Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China ( ZJUH).

Etymology. This species is named after its collector, Dr. Jiang-Li Tan.

FIGURES 2–7. Franklinothrips tani sp. n.: (2) head and pronotum (dorsal view); (3) antenna (right side); (4) antennal segment III; (5) antennal segment IV; (6) abdominal segments VI–X (dorsal view); (7) forewing (right side). (S: sensoria; Scale bar = 50 microns).

Remarks. This new species is easily distinguished by the forewing with a transverse median brown area and the posterior margin extensively brown ( Fig. 1 ), and antennal segments III–VI yellowish brown. In other species of this genus, the forewing is banded in 10 described species ( Mound & Reynaud, 2005) and one species described by Vijay Veer (2010), or not banded and shaded (4 described species). Amongst the latter four species, F. strasseni Mound & Reynaud has the forewing dark along the posterior half but pale distally around the costal area, with antennal segments III–IV clear yellow. F. brunneicornis Mound & Reynaud has antennal segments all dark brown, and forewing dark but costal area pale in the basal half. In F. b a s s e t i Mound & Marullo, the forewing is uniformly shaded without defined pale areas, and in F. lineatus Hood the forewing is dark along its margins but has a pale median longitudinal area, and antennal segment III is yellow, with IV yellow medially but brown at base and apex ( Mound & Reynaud, 2005).

We are grateful to Laurence Mound of CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, Canberra, Australia for his comments on the draft; and special thanks to Dr. Tan Jiang-Li of School of Life Sciences, Northwest University, China for collecting the specimen.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Franklinothrips tani sp. n.: Female (lateral view).