Stenchaetothrips spinulae Tyagi & Kumar, 2008, sp. n.
Creators: name: Tyagi, Kaomud
name: Kumar, Vikas
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2008
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Thysanoptera
Thripidae
Stenchaetothrips
Stenchaetothrips spinulae

description: Stenchaetothrips spinulae sp. n.
Female macroptera. Body brown. Antennal segments I-II, IV-VII brown, III pale yellow. Fore wing brownish in distal ¾ and yellow in proximal ¼. Legs pale brownish.
Ocellar seta pair III situated between fore and hind ocelli, just inside the ocellar triangle; smaller than pair II. Postocular setae III longer than setae I, setae II and setae IV subequal.
FIGURES 8–12. S. spinulae 8. Head & Pronotum Female, 9. Meso- & Metanotum Female, 10. Meso- & Metasternum female, 11. Abdominal tergites VIII–X female, 12. Abdominal sternites III–VII male.
Pronotum with few transverse lines of sculpture. Mesonotum with anterior pair of campaniform sensilla present; with weak, transverse lines of sculpture at middle. Metanotum without campaniform sensilla, with closely spaced longitudinal lines of sculpture converging posteriorly at middle somewhat like Thrips palmi; median setae slightly back of anterior margin. Spinula present on mesosternum. Fore wing costa with 22-27 setae; second vein with 10-16 setae.
Abdominal tergites II-VII with only few teeth at extreme lateral sides. Tergite IX with two pairs of campaniform sensilla. Sternite I with three minute setae apically at middle; median pair of primary setae on VII usually far ahead of posterior margin.
Male macroptera. Body bicoloured, head, thorax, and legs yellow. Abdominal segments I-V yellow but tergites II-V with light brown patch in middle, rest of the segments brown. Antennal segments I-IV yellow, V- VII light brown. Fore wing brown in distal ¾ and yellow in proximal ¼. Legs yellow. Abdominal tergites I-VI without teeth on posterior margin; tergite VII with a few small teeth at posterior margin; tergite VIII without posteromarginal comb. Abdominal sternites III-VII with oval glandular areas.
Measurements (holotype female in microns): Total body length 1480. Head length 145, width at eyes 152, at cheeks 145. Ocellar setae pair II length 27, pair III length 15. Postocular setae I length 27, setae III length 37. Total antennal length 285-320, Length (width) of antennal segments I 27 (30), II 35 (25), III 57 (17), IV 57 (17), V 41 (15), VI 55 (16), VII 20 (5). Pronotum length 132, width 167. Posteroangular inner setae length 67, outer setae length 65. Fore wing length 560-700, width at middle 35-45. Fore femur width 57; hind tibia length 162. Ovipositor length 250.
Male total body length 1280. Length (width) of glandular areas on sternites III-VII 42 (7), 47 (10), 45 (7), 37 (7), 35 (12). Fore wing length 650, width at middle 40.
Specimens examined: Holotype female: India: Delhi, on Bamboo, 21-iii-2003. Paratypes: India: Delhi, on Bamboo, 10 females, 5 males, 21-iii-2003 (Vikas Kumar).
Comments: This species shows sexual dimorphism in colour, as females are entirely dark brown and males are bicoloured. Further, abdominal tergite VIII has a complete posteromarginal comb in females but this is lacking in males.
S. spinulae is closely related to S. tenebricus (Ananthakrishnan & Jagdish) and the females are not separable. However, the males of tenebricus are brown in colour, lack a glandular area on sternite VII, and possess a complete comb on tergite VIII.
The male of this new species runs to couplet 19 in the key to Indian species (Bhatti 1982). That couplet includes bicolor with the median pair of metanotal setae placed far back of anterior margin and a complete comb of microtrichia on abdominal tergite VIII. However, in spinulae these setae are placed just near to the anterior margin and abdominal tergite VIII lacks a comb of microtrichia. Moreover, glandular areas on abdominal sternites III-VII of bicolor are small and even rudimentary on S7, but spinulae has well-developed oval glandular areas these sternites.
Etymology: The species name refers to the presence of the spinula on the mesosternum.
description: Published as part of Tyagi, Kaomud & Kumar, Vikas, 2008, Two new species of Stenchaetothrips (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) from India, pp. 58-64 in Zootaxa 1851 on pages 62-63, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.183411