Heliothrips angustior Priesner 2024, stat. rev.
Creators: name: Silva, Larinne De Maria Rocha
name: O'Donnell, Cheryle A.
name: Lima, Élison Fabrício Bezerra
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Thysanoptera
Thripidae
Heliothrips
Heliothrips angustior

description: Heliothrips angustior Priesner stat. rev.
(Figs 1–39)
Heliothrips haemorrhoidalis angustior Priesner, 1923: 89
Heliothrips longisensibilis Xie, Mound & Zhang, 2019: 145 syn. n.
This species was described from specimens collected in Suriname, northern South America, and the Lectotype female (in SMF) has been studied. Detailed comparison of this female with females of H. longisensibilis revealed no differences. The main characters of H. longisensibilis are also found on H. angustior: (i) sense cone on antennal segment IV surpassing medial area area of segment VI; (ii) segments IV and V less constricted basally; (iii) mesonotum with transverse reticles, (iv) abdominal tergites VII–X brown; (v) males with transverse pore plates on sternites III–VII.
Morphological examination of more than 100 slides of this species revealed, however, that the length of antennal segments III and VIII, the form of antennal segments IV and V, the coloration of antennal segment VI, the length of the sense cone on antennal segment IV, the shape, disposition and quantity of reticulations on the mesonotum, metascutum and the abdomen vary both within and between populations.
In contrast to H. haemorrhoidalis, antennal segments IV and V are not constricted basally, but sometimes one side of these segments has a small constriction at the base (Figs 10, 12, 14, 18, 20, 21, 23, 25, 26). The length of the sense cone on antennal segment IV varies from 50 to 65 microns, ranging from not exceeding half of segment VI to reaching the apical third of segment VI. Antennal segment III varies between 50 and 62 microns, with some specimens from Mato Grosso, Amazonas and Pará states showing the shortest measurements. Antennal segment VIII shows variations between 70 and 100 microns, with specimens from Pará, Amapá and Acre states with the largest measurements. On the other hand, the holotype from China presents the longest antennal segment III and the shortest antennal segment VIII compared to the other specimens analyzed (Xie et al. 2019).
Antennal segment VI coloration also varies. It is usually light brown at the apex, but can be paler or darker and be present more apically or extend along the apical third of the segment. Some individuals show almost no coloration in this segment. The reticles on the mesonotum are never like the rounder ones of H. haemorrhoidalis, but can also vary from rectangular to quadrangular in populations and may or may not show a transversal pattern. The metascutal triangle can also be formed by more or less elongated reticules, and the position of the two pairs of setae inside this sclerite vary (Figs 8, 9, 11, 13, 15, 16, 27, 28, 29). Some individuals from the states of Maranhão and Piauí can exhibit a much smaller metascutal triangle compared to specimens from Goiás and Mato Grosso, in which the triangle and basal edge extend slightly beyond the metascutellum, measuring more than 100 microns (Figs 17, 19, 22, 24). In the abdomen, there are variations in the number of reticles anterior to the ridge and between the median setae in the abdominal segments III–V: while some individuals from Ceará and Piauí states show few reticulations and an almost smooth region, others have well-developed reticulations (Figs 30–32).
Finally, variations in the shape and size of the pore plates are noticeable in the sternites of the males. The plates range from 5.6 to 7.5 times longer than wide and the sternites exhibit different levels of reticulations (Figs 37–39). As for the comb on abdominal segment VII, it ranges from well-developed, long and complete (Figs 33–35) to poorly developed and incomplete (Fig. 36) On the other hand, all the specimens examined have brown terminal abdominal segments and the sternal pore plates of the males are always transverse. As the variations occurred within populations, they are regarded here as intraspecific.
The re-examination of material from various museums revealed that this species is widely distributed throughout the Neotropics, although no specimen has been found from the Nearctic region. The occurrence of the species is confirmed in 15 Neotropical countries: Argentina, Barbados, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama, Puerto Rico, Saint Lucia, Suriname and Trinidad.
One specimen collected in 1963 from India and labeled as H. haemorrhoidalis is here identified as H. angustior, thus indicating the presence of this species in Asia more than 50 years before H. longisensibilis was described from China. In addition, one male specimen from Thailand cited as a male of haemorrhoidalis by Mound (1976) is here identified as angustior. Specimens from other continents labeled as H. haemorrhoidalis should thus be re-examined.
Material studied. Deposited at SFM: Suriname. Paramaribo, female, Lectotype (A.Regne). Deposited at NHM: Barbados. On Citrus, vi.1965, 2 females [one slide]; on citrus, iii.1971, 3 females (F.D.Bennett). Costa Rica. Turrialba, C.A.T.I.E, on Bixa orellana, 30.iv.1992, 1 female (L.A.Mound). Dominica. Woodford hill, on avocado (Persea americana), 27.vi.1988, 6 females (CIE A19906). Jamaica. Caenwood, 4.ii.1971, on coconut palm, 1 female (K. Heinze). Panama. Barro Colorado Island, on Montrichardia arborescens, 27.vi.1983, 2 females; Barro Colorado Island, on Swartzia simplex, 27.vi.1983, 1 female and 1 male (L.A.Mound). Saint Lucia. Degius, on coconut, 27.iv.1984, 1 female; same place and host, 26.iv.1984, 2 females. Thailand. Bangkok, on Acalypha sp., vi.1973, 1 male (K.Sombarsiri). Trinidad. St. Augustine, 2.x.1936, 3 females (A.M.A.Adamson); Curepe, C.I.B.C, on citrus, 24.i.1968, 3 females (E.J.R.); Curepe, on grasses, 9.xi.1970, 1 female; Curepe, C.I.B.C., on dead branches, 30.x.1970, 2 females; Curepe, on Flacourtia india leaves, 10.xi.1970, 3 females (L.A.Mound). Deposited at USNM: Colombia. Avocado leaf, no date, 1 female and 1 male (B.Lusadas); Madalena Valley, on Citrus sp., vi.1993, 1 female (G.M.León). Cuba. on leaves of turnip, 3.ii.1936, 1 female (A.O.Plummer). Honduras. On Grapefruit, 111935, 1 female (J.G.Lewis); on Orange fruit, 19.ix.1940, 1 female and 1 male (no collector data). India. Madras, on garden Croton, 4.iv.1963, 1 female (T.N.Ananthakrishnan). Panama. Canal Zone, Barro Colorado Island, vi.1939, 2 females and 1 male; Beating, v.1939, 2 females; Beating, 14.vi.1939, 1 male (J.Zetek). Puerto Rico. Mayaquez, on Citrus leaves with diaprepes egg mass, 3.vi.1969, 1 female (B.D.Burks). Suriname. Paramaribo, polyphagous, viii.1984, 1 female (A.Muller). Trinidad. Princes Town, on Jatropha gossipiifolia, ii.1999, 1 female (T.A.Heard & V.Lopez); St. Augustine, on Orange, 8.ii.1938, 2 females (E.McCallan). Thailand. Bangkok, Acalypha sp., vi.1973, 2 females (K. Sombatsiri). Deposited at CIEMIC: Costa Rica. San Sebastián, San José, 26.vi.1999, 1 female (G. A. Soto); Carbonera, 06.ii.2008, 1 male (K. O.); Carranza, 30.i.2008, 1 male (K. O.). Deposited at CHNUFPI: Brazil. Mato Grosso: Marcelândia, on leaves of unidentified plant, 6.vi.2019, 2 females; Cuiabá, leaf of an unidentified plant, 11.iii.2016, 2 females, on citrus, 8.vi.2019, 1 female (E.F. B. Lima); Nova Mutum, on leaves of unidentified plant, 15.iv.2019, 3 females, 2 males (E.F. B. Lima); Maranhão: Timbiras, on Anacardium occidentale, 31.vii.2019, 2 females (N.M.O. Silva); São Luís, on leaves of unidentified plant, 5.i.2017, 3 females, (E.F. B. Lima); Carolina, on leguminosa, 23. viii.2022, 1 female, on leaves of unidentified plant 23.VIII.2022, 1 female (E.F. B. Lima); Piauí: Bom Jesus, on Mangifera indica, 15.vi.2022 (E.F. B. Lima); Teresina, on leaves of unidentified plant, 10.ii.2016, 3 females (E.F. B. Lima); Floriano, on leaves of unidentified plant, 28.iv.2018, 3 females (E.F. B. Lima); José de Freitas, on Malpighia punifolia, 17.xii.2022, 3 females (L.M.R. Silva); Parnaíba, on Anacardium occidentale, 14.xii.2022, 1 femele (J. M. Macedo); Marcos Parente, 5.vii.2019, one female on leaves of unidentified plant, 1 female on citrus, 1 female on Senna sp., (E.F. B. Lima); Goiás: Goiânia, on leaves of unidentified plant, 22.viii.2016, 3 females and 3 males (E.F. B. Lima); Rio Grande do Norte: Mossoró, on citrus, 27.v.2019, 2 females (E.F. B. Lima); Sergipe: São Cristóvão, on bamboo, 6.xi.2019, 1 female (E.F. B. Lima); Ceará: Caucaia, on Strychnos parvifolia, 10.ix.2019, 3 females (E.F. B. Lima); Pará, Altamira, on Mangifera indica, 22.v.2022, 1 female (E.F. B. Lima).
description: Published as part of Silva, Larinne De Maria Rocha, O'Donnell, Cheryle A. & Lima, Élison Fabrício Bezerra, 2024, Species identity crisis among New World members of the genus Heliothrips (Thysanoptera: Thripidae: Panchaetothripinae), pp. 153-172 in Zootaxa 5489 (1) on pages 155-160, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5489.1.11, http://zenodo.org/record/13210997