Cephalothrips bicolor Alavi & Minaei 2021, sp. n.

Cephalothrips bicolor sp. n.

Female aptera. Body bicoloured, legs yellow to yellowish brown, in northern specimens darker in two-thirds of tibiae basally, fore legs lighter than others, all tarsi and apex of all tibiae light yellow (Figs 11, 12); antennal segments I–II as dark brown as head, III–VII light brown with yellow in basal half, VIII uniformly light brown (Fig. 13); prothorax brown, meso and metathorax yellow to yellowish brown, metanotum greyish anteriorly in the northern specimens, pelta yellow to grayish yellow, abdominal segment II yellow to yellowish brown, darker in posterior half; tergite III yellowish brown to brown, tergites IV–VIII dark brown. Head about 1.5 times longer than wide, eyes large and prolonged posteriorly on ventral surface to a point; maxillary stylets close together in the middle of head, retracted to po setae; po setae short, not reaching posterior margin of compound eyes, pointed at apex, other setae on head small; ocelli absent. Mouth cone short and rounded apically. Pronotum with two pairs of major setae, epim weakly capitate, pa blunt or pointed at apex (Fig. 15), and fore-coxal setae weakly capitate. Metanotum without sculpture. Legs rather stout, fore tarsal tooth sharp. Pelta D-shaped, with or without paired campaniform sensilla; tergites with anterior wing retaining setae absent, posterior short, straight, pointed; posteromarginal seta S1 on tergites II–VII pointed, S2 weakly blunt or pointed, longer than S2 (Fig. 16); tergite VIII setae S1 capitate, arise far from posterior margin, S2 capitate, arise submarginally; tergite IX setae S1 and S2 capitate, shorter than basal width of tube. Sternites III–VII with 6–10, VIII with 8 discal setae in one row; sternites II–VII setae S1 long and finely pointed, arise far ahead of posterior margin. Lateral anal setae as long as dorsal anal setae.

Measurements (holotype female in microns). Body length 2100. Head, length 263; width 185; postocular setae 17. Pronotum, length 147; width 225; aa 15, ml 12, epim 32, pa 20. Pelta length 65, width 125. Tergite IX setae S1 50, S2 50. Tube length (basal width) 135 (67); dorsal and lateral anal setae 80. Antennal segments I–VIII length (width) 37 (32), 55 (30), 52 (25), 57 (28), 57 (27), 50 (25), 40 (22), 30 (15).

Male aptera. Color and structure similar to female. Tergite IX setae S1 long, capitate shorter than basal width of tube, setae S2 moderate, pointed apically. Sternite VIII with two circular pore plates laterally. Pseudovirga forked, Y shape (Fig. 17).

Measurements (paratype male in microns). Body length 1830. Head, length 242; width 152; postocular setae 22. Pronotum, length 132; width 195; aa?, ml 6, epim 30, pa 16. Pelta length 57, width 115. Tergite IX setae S1 50, S2 37. Tube length (basal width) 112 (55); dorsal and lateral anal setae 80. Antennal segments I–VIII length (width) 37 (30), 52 (25), 54 (25), 57 (25), 57 (25), 52 (22), 42 (17), 30 (15).

Material examined. Holotype female: IRAN, Khorasan-e Shomali province, Shirvan, Sarani Protected Area, Golil, from flowering Onobrychis cornuta (L.) (Fabaceae), 21.viii.2013, J. Alavi.

Paratypes: 9 females and 3 males collected with holotype. 1 female from leaves of Carex sp. same locality, date and collector. Fars province, Shiraz, Badjgah, 4 females, 2 males, from leaves of mulberry, 13.iv.1998. K. Minaei. Eghlid, 1 male, from leaf litter, 4.ix. 2015. M. Hakimara. Dasht arzhan, 1 male, from leaf litter, A. I. Parizi.

Comments

C. bicolor sp. n. is very similar to the widespread C. monilicornis, but differs from that as follows: body dark brown with lighter abdominal segments I–II, metanotum, legs and antennal segments III–VIII, while C. monilicornis is generally dark brown with apices of tibiae, tarsi, and bases of antennal segments III–VI yellow; the antennal segments are slightly narrower in the new species. Moreover, C. bicolor sp. n. was collected on leaves of mulberry, leaves of Carex sp., flowering Onobrychis cornuta and leaf litter, while C. monilicornis is generally recorded from leaves of various living Poaceae (Mound et al., 2019). Interestingly, no males of C. monilicornis have been recorded from any part of its wide distribution (Bagnall 1926, 1927; Stannard 1968; Mound et al. 1976; Minaei & Mound 2014; Tunç & Hastenpflug-Vesmanis 2016; Mirab-balou & Zaidi 2014; Mound et al. 2018; Mound et al. 2019), while a significant number of males of C. bicolor sp. n. were collected in this study.

Etymology. The name of the species refers to the color of the body.