Neohydatothrips tadzhicus (Pelikan)

(Figs 20–27)

Sericothrips tadzhicus Pelikan, 1964: 228.

Neohydatothrips tadzhicus (Pelikan) Bhatti, 1973: 405.

Female macroptera. Body mainly yellow with light brown markings (Fig. 20); head yellow with weakly shaded at ocellar region; antennal segments I and II pale, III light brown with pale on basal third, IV–VIII brown (Fig. 24); pronotum pale with brown blotch (Fig. 23); mesonotum light brown with pale at posterior half; metanotum brown with pale at posterior third; metasternal plate (Fig. 22) light brown with pale medially; legs yellow with shaded brown on median of femora and tibiae, all coxae light brown; fore wing pale with one short brown band sub-basally, clavus pale with shaded basally (Fig. 25); abdominal tergites II–VI yellow with dark brown antecostal ridge and light brown markings antero-laterally, VII yellowish brown, VIII–X yellow (Fig. 26). Head wider than long (Fig. 21); occipital apodeme not confluent with posterior margin of eyes, distance between posterior margin of compound eyes and occipital apodeme almost as long as diameter of one ommatidium; three pairs of ocellar setae present; pair III within ocellar triangle; postocular setae pair I much longer than ocellar pair III; eyes with 5 pigmented facets (Fig. 21). Antennae 8-segmented (Fig. 24), segments III and IV each with forked sense cone and apical neck. Mouth cone long, extending beyond fore coxae. Pronotum rectangle, sculptured with transverse anastomosing striae, no wrinkles among striae; blotch bowtie-shaped, well defined; one pair of long posteroangular setae present, outer pair longer than inner one (Fig. 23). Mesonotum closely sculptured with transverse striae, median pair of setae slightly anterior to submedian pair. Metanotum with irregular reticulate medially and longitudinal lines laterally; median pair of setae on anterior margin. Fore wing first vein with complete setal row of 18–19 setae, second vein with no setae, clavus with three (rarely 4) veinal and one discal setae (Fig. 25). Tergites II–VII without microtrichia and posterior comb medially, VIII with complete come on posterior margin (Fig. 26). Sternites II–VII covered with microtrichia and without discal setae; II with 2 pairs of posteromarginal setae, III–VII with 3 pairs; VII with all setae ahead of posterior margin.

Measurements (one female in microns). Distended body length 1100. Head length (width) 50 (150). Antennal segments I–VIII length (width) as follows: 20 (22), 34 (24), 58 (16), 52 (16), 40 (14), 48 (14), 10 (6), 16(5). Ocellar setae III length 22. Pronotal median length (width) 110 (170). Fore wing length 665.

Male macroptera. General structure similar to female, sternite VII with one single small oval pore plate (Fig. 27).

Material examined. CHINA, Xinjiang, Shihezi City, 5 females, one male, 10.v.2021, collected from flowers of Glycyrrhiza glabra [Fabaceae], Jiayang Wang.

Distribution. China (Xinjiang, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia), Tajikistan, Iran.

Remarks. N. tadzhicus (Pelikan) was originally described from Tajikistan, but in this study the species was newly found in Xinjiang, the Chinese Province that borders Tajikistan. Yang et al. (1993) included this species in the checklist of their survey in Ningxia and Inner Mongolia of China, but they did not provide any morphological information about this species. The fore wings of the specimens from Xinjiang have only one brown band subbasally, with the clavus pale but shaded basally (Figs 20, 25), and this is in accordance with the original description of N. tadzhicus from Tajikistan. In contrast, the identification keys provided by Zhang et al. (2012) and Mirab-balou et al. (2013), also the description of N. tadzhicus from Iran (Minaei 2016), all mentioned that the fore wing has two brown bands.

N. tadzhicus was originally collected from jungle grasses by sweeping (Pelikan 1964), but it is always associated with the liquorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra), a perennial herb whose root has been widely used around the world to treat coughs since ancient times, in China (Xinjiang, Ningxia and Inner Mongolia) and Iran (Yang et al. 1993, Minaei 2016). Besides the liquorice, this thrips has also been taken from Melilotus officinalis [Fabaceae] and Ixeris polycephala [Asteraceae] in Ningxia and Inner Mongolia, China (Yang et al. 1993).