Liothrips tibetanus Dang & An & Mound & Qiao 2024, sp. n.
Creators: name: Dang, Lihong
name: An, Yiyan
name: Mound, Laurence A.
name: Qiao, Gexia
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Thysanoptera
Phlaeothripidae
Liothrips
Liothrips tibetanus

description: Liothrips tibetanus sp. n.
(Figs 17, 39, 50, 68, 84, 101)
Female macroptera. Body brown; all femora brown, fore tibiae yellow with shaded medially, mid and hind tibiae brown, all tarsi yellow; antennal segments I–II brown III–VI uniformly yellow, VII–VIII lightly brown, VII pale at base (Fig. 39); major setae pale; fore wing shaded light brown.
Head longer than wide, transversely reticulate (Fig. 17); postocular setae blunt, shorter than eyes (Fig. 17); eyes dorsally and ventrally equal in length; maxillary stylets about 0.1 of head width apart, retracted to level of postocular setae (Fig. 17); mouth cone bluntly pointed, reaching to level of anterior margin of ferna. Antennal segment III about 3 times as long as apical width (Fig. 39); IV with 3 major sense cones, VIII small but distinct from VII. Pronotum sculptured reticulate at anterior half, irregular lines at posterior half, with 5 pairs of long blunt setae, epim setae longest (Fig. 50). All legs normal. Fore wings with 3 blunt sub-basal setae arising in straight line, almost equal in length, with 8–9 duplicated cilia. Mesonotum transversely reticulate, lateral setae well-developed, blunt. Metanotum longitudinally reticulate, major setae slender and acute (Fig. 84). Mesopresternum eroded medially but weakly connected, metathoracic sternopleural sutures long (Fig. 68). Pelta broadly triangular, weakly reticulate, with pair of CPS (Fig. 84); tergite II with 4–5 pairs of lateral setae; tergite VIII posterolateral setae well-developed, shorter than posteroangulares; tergite IX setae S1 about half the length of tube, blunt at apex (Fig. 101), S2–S3 shorter than tube, apex acute; tube longer than head, anal setae shorter than tube.
Measurements (holotype female in microns). Body length 2730. Head length (maximum width) 230 (200); postocular setae length 55; antennal segments I–VIII length (width): 40 (40), 50 (35), 70 (25), 70 (40), 65 (30), 60 (30), 50 (25), 30 (10); sense cone on III length 30. Pronotum length (width) 190 (325); am 25, aa 35, ml 40, epim 110, pa 50. Fore wing length 1050; sub-basal setae S1 45, S2 55, S3 55. Tergite VIII posterolateral setae 70; tergite IX setae S1 150, S2 230, S3 230; tube length 320, basal width 85, apical width 45; anal setae length 215.
Male macroptera. Similar to female in colour and sculpture; abdominal tergite IX setae S2 short and acute; sternite VIII largely occupied by pore plate.
Measurements (paratype male in microns). Body length 1980. Head length (maximum width) 210 (180); postocular setae length 45. Pronotum length (width) 150 (270); am 20, aa 25, ml 20, epim 85, pa 55. Tergite IX setae S1 130, S2 35, S3 230; tube length 275, basal width 80, apical width 40; anal setae length 185.
Specimens studied. Holotype female, CHINA, Tibet, Motuo, on unknown plant, 20.vii. 2022, Yanqiao Li (SNUT).
Paratypes: 1 female and 1 male with same data as holotype (SNUT & NZMC).
Etymology. This species name is composed of one Latin word based on the region where the type specimens were collected.
Comments. The pronotum of this new species is irregularly reticulate, with sculpture rather like that which is characteristic for species of Gynaikothrips. Nevertheless, it is clearly associated with Liothrips due to the presence of metathoracic sternopleural sutures and the medially eroded mesopresternum (Fig. 68). It seems worth noting that the body shape and sculpture of L. tibetanus sp. n. is somewhat similar to species of Teuchothrips, but it has no fore tarsal tooth in either sex.
description: Published as part of Dang, Lihong, An, Yiyan, Mound, Laurence A. & Qiao, Gexia, 2024, Leaf-feeding species of the genus Liothrips from China (Thysanoptera, Phlaeothripinae), pp. 53-84 in Zootaxa 5419 (1) on page 78, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5419.1.2, http://zenodo.org/record/10781919