Neohydatothrips burungae Hood, stat. rev.

Neohydatothrips burungae (Hood) stat. rev.

(Figs 16, 51, 53, 60, 68, 85, 86)

Sericothrips burungae Hood, 1935: 150.

Sericothrips mimosae Hood, 1955: 134. Synonymy in Mound & Marullo, 1996: 172. Sericothrips denigratus De Santis, 1966: 11 syn.n.

Female macroptera. Colour: variable, body yellow or brownish yellow with light brown markings, ocellar region light brown, also pronotal blotch, anterior margin of mesonotum, and posterior of metanotum; tergal antecostal ridge dark, tergites II–VI shaded laterally, VII–VIII shaded medially, IX–X yellow; fore wing grey, darker subbasally (Fig. 85); antennal segment I pale, II usually shaded, III and base of IV pale; hind tibiae yellow, femora lightly shaded.

Structure: Occipital apodeme not confluent with posterior margin of eyes, ocellar area irregularly reticulate (Fig. 16); antennal segments III & IV with apex not constricted to neck; pronotum transversely striate, blotch welldefined (Fig. 16); mesonotum and anterior part of metanotum striate (Fig. 51); metasternal plate with shallow emargination (Fig. 53); fore wing second vein with one seta distally (Fig. 68); tergites VII–VIII with complete comb of long microtrichia on posterior margin, no comb on remaining tergites; tergite IX with 2 pairs of mid-dorsal setae.

Male macroptera. Similar to female, but smaller (Fig. 86); sternites with one small circular pore plate on tergite VII (Fig. 60).

Larva II. Pale in colour, with microtrichia on dorsal surface. Antennae 7-segmented, segment I, apex of II and III yellow, IV–VII and bases of II–III yellowish brown. Thorax without brown sclerotized areas. Body with several short brown setae with apices fringed but not expanded, length up to about 20 microns on thorax and abdominal tergites I–IV, arising from normal setae insertions; sternal setae acute.

Material studied. Holotype female, PANAMA, Barro Colorado Is., 4.viii.1933 (USNM). Holotype female of Sericothrips denigratus, ARGENTINA, Tucuman Province, San Javier, 19.iii.1960 (MLP). BRAZIL, Santa Catarina State, Nova Teutônia [Seara], 9 females, 2 males from Balfourodendron licanum, xii.1949; same locality, 13 females, 1 male, various dates 1948–1951 (F. Plaumann) (USNM); Paraná State, Warta, 1 female from soybeans, 16.i.2001 (D.S. Gomes) (ESALQ); Rio Grande do Sul State, Viamão, Parque Estadual de Itapuã, 1 female from Bidens sp., 24.vi.2003, 1 female from flowers of Asteraceae, 13.iv.2004 (A. Cavalleri) (UFRGS).

Comments. N. burungae and N. mimosae were placed into synonymy with the Mexican species N. signifer by Mound and Marullo (1996), and N. aztecus was also included. However, Sueo Nakahara (in litt. 2004) indicated that burungae and aztecus should be considered valid, with N. signifer distinguished by an unusually short comb on tergite VII and hind tibiae that are shaded brown medially; this opinion is accepted here although we have not studied the signifer type specimen. N. burungae is unusual in having the interocellar area distinctly but weakly reticulate, much as in N. gracilipes and N. samayunkur. The apex of antennal segment IV is brown in colour, and not narrowed to a distinct neck. In the holotype of N. denigratus, the apical part of segment IV is more elongate, but despite this that species is treated here as a synonym. The metanotal striae are similar to those of N. gracilipes and not closely set, with no markings or shadow lines associated with the major striae. N. burungae was found in large numbers on avocado leaves in Mexico and Guatemala (Hoddle et al. 2002), and Contreras and Zamar (2010) indicated that the species breeds on Medicago sativa, Phaseolus vulgaris and Solanum e sculentum in Argentina (Table 1).