New Thrips Species (Insecta: Thysanoptera) for the Serbian Fauna

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New thrips species (Insecta: Thysanoptera) for the Serbian fauna

Article in Acta Phytopathologica et Entomologica Hungarica · December 2008 DOI: 10.1556/APhyt.43.2008.2.2

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New Thrips Species (Insecta: Thysanoptera) for the Serbian Fauna

Lj. ANDJUS 1*, S. TRDAN 2 and M. JOVI ≤1

1Natural History Museum Belgrade, Njegoševa 51, SER-Belgrade, Serbia 2Department of Agronomy, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Jamnikarjeva 101, SI-1111 Ljubljana, Slovenia

(Received: 4 March 2008; accepted: 6 June 2008)

112 species have been listed in the last published check-list of thrips in Serbia. In this paper we intro - duce three new thrips species for this country. Orothrips priesneri, an aeolothripid species, has a discontinuous Mediterranean distribution. In Serbia it was found at several localities along the course of the Danube, a region with a warm, submediterranean influence. Its general distribution pattern makes its presence in Serbia unex - pected. The hygrophilous species Iridothrips iridis was collected on the leaves of Iris pseudacorus in the vicin - ity of Grocka, near Belgrade. Platythrips tunicatus, which is widespread in Europe, is an oligophagous species related especially to plants from the genus Galium.

Keywords: Thysanoptera, thrips, fauna of Serbia, Orothrips priesneri, Iridothrips iridis, Platythrips tu - nicatus. The first data on the thrips fauna of Serbia had been published by Kazakov (1927). After that, Morison and Tanasijevi ≥ (1966), Gojkovi ≥ (1971) and zur Strassen (1981, 1984) also wrote about these insects in this part of the Balkans. The great thripsologist R. zur Strassen has presented a check-list of Thysanoptera in the area of the Yugoslav countries, and specified 65 thrips species for Serbia in the paper published in 1984. As it has already been cited on several occasions, the thrips fauna in the territory of the countries of the former Yugoslavia and especially Serbia, had been studied more inten - sively from the eighties of the last century. The result of these investigations is a significant increase in the number of known species in Serbia. So, in our last published check-list (Trdan et al., 2003) we could list 112 thrips species from Serbia. It means that during this period, the number of known thrips species had increased by 43 percent.

Materials and Methods

Insects were collected by classic entomological methods – by direct inspection of plant material and by use of a sweeping net. All examined localities were in the surround - ings of Belgrade, except Slankamen which is situated in Srem (Northern Serbia). Most of

* Corresponding author; e-mail: [email protected]

the material has been collected by the entomologist Aleksandar Stojanovi ≥, one of the Nat - ural History Museum’s curators. All collected specimens are deposited in the Entomolog - ical Collection of the Natural History Museum in Belgrade (600 BEO 595.7312).

Results and Discussion

During our investigations we have found three new thrips species for the fauna of Serbia. Orothrips priesneri is an aeolothripid species and both Iridothrips iridis and Platythrips tunicatus belong to the family Thripidae.

Orothrips priesneri (Titschack, 1958) Generally, Orothrips priesneri was found in the Middle East, and in the European part of the Western Mediterranean. An exception is a record from the Czech Republic. Pe - likan (1995) has found specimens of this species in the Palava Biosphere Reserve in the South-eastern frontier of the Czech Republic. Marullo and Mound (1994) reported a dis - continuous distribution of this species in Mediterranean climates. Its general distribution pattern makes its presence in Serbia unexpected. O. priesneri specimens (Fig. 1) were found at two localities in the surroundings of Belgrade – Veliko selo and Begaljica, and in Slankamen – a locality on the bank of the Danube in Srem (Northern Serbia) (Fig. 2) .

Fig. 1. Orothrips priesneri (female)

Acta Phytopathologica et Entomologica Hungarica 43, 2008 Andjus et al.: New thrips in Serbian fauna 221

Slankamen is a settlement whose vicinity is under strong anthropogenic influence. There are a few isolated warm habitats, exposed to the Danube, where the specimens of this species were found. Insects were collected from Crataegus shrubs. Veliko selo and Be - galjica are settlements north-eastwards from Belgrade, very close to the banks of the Danube.

Fig. 2. UTM grid map (10 # 10 km 2) with localities of Orothrips priesneri findings

Acta Phytopathologica et Entomologica Hungarica 43, 2008 222 Andjus et al.: New thrips in Serbian fauna

According to our data it can be assumed that O. priesneri is a thermophilous and foliicolous species. It is also zoophagous as it feeds on the eggs and nymphs of insects of the family Psyllidae. The species is connected with plants in the family Rosaceae, especially Crataegus sp., Malus sp. and Pyrus sp. (zur Strassen, 2003). Besides O. priesneri, other Mediterranean species are known to occur along the course of the Serbian part of the Danube with its warm, Submediterranean influence. Compsothrips uzeli (Hood) has a Mediterranean distribution similar to that of O. priesneri . It was found in large populations in warm and dry habitats in the Danube valley (Andjus, 2000) (Fig. 3) . From the summer of 1996 it was regularly collected in Serbia. It is worth mentioning that O. priesneri and C. uzeli were found simultaneously and together at two of the three examined localities – in Veliko Selo and Slankamen. The doyen ofYugoslav entomology, Dr Guido Nonveiller, has explained the presence of Mediterranean insects in Middle Europe. In his paper on the diversity of the entomofauna of Serbia he pointed out that several parts of Serbia are influenced by the Mediterranean climate (Nonveiller, 1999). Among other areas, he cited the banks of the Sava and Danube in Srem and the Ðerdap George. Such habitats apparently offer possibilities for survival of elements of the Mediterranean fauna.

Iridothrips iridis (Watson, 1924) This species belongs to Iridothrips, which contains only one other species – Iri - dothrips mariae Pelikan. Species of this genus were in the past commonly treated as mem - bers of Frankliniella . In one of the most important books on the taxonomy of the European Terebrantia, the genus Iridothrips is considered as a valid genus (zur Strassen, 2003). Both Iridothrips species live on aquatic plants, sometimes also below the water surface. They have a restricted ecological niche typified by a small host range and by living only on the vegetative parts of plants. I. mariae is an oligophagous species confined to plants of the genus Typha . We have confirmed the ecological restrictions by collecting it on Typha an - gustifolia from the Pan ∞eva ∞ki Rit in Banat (Northern Serbia) (Andjus, 1988). Iridothrips iridis (Fig. 5) has a Holarctic distribution. In Europe it is widely distrib - uted, but it has never been found in the South and the East of the continent. At the end of May 2002, a population of this species was found in Vr ∞in in the vicinity of Grocka, near Belgrade (Central Serbia) (Fig. 4) . At this location, specimens of this species were col - lected on the leaves of Iris pseudacorus . It is a monophagous and foliicolous species.

Platythrips tunicatus (Haliday, 1852) Platythrips tunicatus is widely distributed in Europe. However, there are only a few records of this species from the region of Balkans. It has been found already in countries that border Serbia: Hungary and Romania (Jenser, 1982; Vasiliu Oromulu, 1998). This floricolous and oligophagous species is related especially to representatives of the genus Galium, such as Galium mollugo, G. palustre and G. odoratum .

Acta Phytopathologica et Entomologica Hungarica 43, 2008 Andjus et al.: New thrips in Serbian fauna 223

Fig. 3. UTM grid map (10 # 10 km 2) with localities of Compsothrips uzeli findings

Acta Phytopathologica et Entomologica Hungarica 43, 2008 224 Andjus et al.: New thrips in Serbian fauna

Fig. 4. UTM grid map (10 # 10 km 2) with localities of Platythrips tunicatus (square) and Iridothrips iridis (circle) findings

Acta Phytopathologica et Entomologica Hungarica 43, 2008 Andjus et al.: New thrips in Serbian fauna 225

Fig. 5. Iridothrips iridis (female)

Fig. 6. Platythrips tunicatus (female, without antennae III–VII)

Acta Phytopathologica et Entomologica Hungarica 43, 2008 226 Andjus et al.: New thrips in Serbian fauna

In May of 2007, an apterous female (Fig. 6) was found in the vicinity of Belgrade, at the locality of Stepin Gaj (Fig. 4), by using a sweeping net. Stepin Gaj is situated east from Belgrade. It is a forest on the hill near the city, with a few xerophilous and mesophilous meadows having different floral compositions.

Acknowledgements We would like to address our special thanks to Mr Aleksandar Stojanovi ≥ (Natural History Museum, Bel - grade) for his restless and highly competent help. We would also like to thank Dr Zlatko Proli ≥ (Institute of Bio - logical Researches, Belgrade) for his help in production of thrips microphotographs.

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