Zootaxa 4623 (1): 041–050 ISSN 1175-5326 (print edition) https://www.mapress.com/j/zt/ Article ZOOTAXA Copyright © 2019 Magnolia Press ISSN 1175-5334 (online edition) https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4623.1.3 http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:A12766AF-E495-4FF3-9CDD-4E47F6C65E7A Identification of Haplothrips species from Malesia (Thysanoptera, Phlaeothripinae) LAURENCE A. MOUND Australian National Insect Collection CSIRO, PO Box 1700, Canberra, ACT 2601 [email protected] Abstract A key is provided to 13 species of Haplothrips recorded from Malesia, the tropical biogeographic region that extends from Peninsular Malaysia to New Guinea. Three new synonyms are established, and H. aliceae sp.n. is described from Sarawak, Timor-Leste and Thailand. In contrast to recent treatments of Haplothrips, one of the most common members of the genus in Australia, H. angustus Hood is recognised as a syn.n. of H. ganglebaueri Schmutz that is widespread from Iran to Indonesia. Difficulties in distinguishing between three of the most common flower-living, Southeast Asian, species of this genus are discussed: H. anceps Hood from northern Australia, H. chinensis Priesner from Hong Kong, and H. brevitubus (Karny) from Japan. Key words: new species, new synonyms, Australia, Southeast Asia, distributions Introduction Haplothrips is the third largest genus in the insect Order Thysanoptera, and currently comprises almost 250 species (ThripsWiki 2019). The genus is found throughout the world, but with remarkably few species in South America (Mound & Marullo 1996). The members of this genus are predominantly flower-living, with many associated with the flowers of Asteraceae and also Poaceae, although the flowers of many other families are visited and presum- ably exploited in some way. In addition, some of the species are known to be, or are suspected of being, predators on other small arthropods (Minaei & Mound 2008), and these are commonly beaten from dead branches. Unfor- tunately, there are very few biological studies on any species, and there are also very few identification keys that deal with more than a few species. For example, although the web site Fauna Europaea (2019) lists 80 Haplothrips species from Europe, the only modern identification system in the Palaearctic Region is to the 14 Haplothrips spe- cies recorded from Britain (Mound et al. 2018). There is a key to 24 Haplothrips species from Australia (Mound & Minaei 2007), to 21 Haplothrips species from Iran (Minaei & Mound 2008), and to nine Haplothrips species from Japan (Okajima 2006), but for tropical Asia the only modern key is to 17 species from India (Pitkin 1976). For Southeast Asia, the only identification system to Haplothrips species (Priesner 1933) is now of little more than archival interest, because many of the character states used are no longer considered valid, and there have been many nomenclatural changes over the past 80 years. The objective of the studies reported here was to re-examine the original specimens of the Haplothrips species from Southeast Asia, and to correlate those with recently collected series in order to prepare a provisional identification system on which future studies might be based. Abbreviations. The pronotal setae are given below as: am—anteromarginals; aa—anteroangulars; ml—midlat- erals; epim—epimerals; pa—posteroangulars. Generic classification The body form of species within the Haplothripini is remarkably uniform, and the generic classification continues to be less than satisfactory. Individual species that exhibit an unusual autapomorphy are commonly placed into Accepted by A. Cavalleri: 20 May 2019; published: 24 Jun. 2019 41 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0 separate genera, such that 14 of the 34 genera that were listed by Mound and Minaei (2007) in this Tribe are mono- typic. Members of this Tribe all have well-developed prosternal basantra, and the fore wings (when present) have a median constriction. Species that are now placed in the genus Haplothrips all have either one or two sense cones on antennal segment III, and four sense cones (rarely three) on segment IV. In contrast, Haplothrips-like species that have two sense cones on both of antennal segments III and IV are now placed in Xylaplothrips, and similar looking species with three sense cones on segment III and four on segment IV are now placed in Mesandrothrips (Mound & Tree 2019). Within the genus Haplothrips there is a further complication in that most species have fore wings with a group of duplicated cilia distally on the posterior margin. Species of Haplothrips that lack these fore wing dupli- cated cilia are referred to the subgenus Trybomiella, although not all of the 25 species listed in this subgenus seem to be closely related. Within the Haplothripini, two further genera, Apterygothrips with 40 species and Karnyothrips with 48 species, are very similar to Haplothrips in body structure. Species seem to have been allocated to these two genera in an almost arbitrary manner, and currently both are almost certainly polyphyletic. These genera are not considered further, as the included species need to be re-examined, and the genera freshly diagnosed, if they are to come to represent single evolutionary lineages. Key to Haplothrips species from Malesia 1. Fore wing without duplicated cilia distally on posterior margin .................................................2 -. Fore wing with duplicated cilia distally on posterior margin ....................................................3 2. Pronotum with only epimeral setae larger than discal setae (Fig. 6) ..........................................timori -. Pronotum with 5 pairs of major setae ................................................................ robustus 3. Antennal segment III with 2 sense cones ...................................................................4 -. Antennal segment III with 1 sense cone ....................................................................8 4. Antennal segment IV with 3 sense cones ...................................................................5 -. Antennal segment IV with 4 sense cones ...................................................................6 5. Fore tarsus with curved tooth at inner apex (Fig. 3); antennal segments IV–VI yellow at base (Fig. 3); all femora yellow .... ..........................................................................................aliceae sp.n. -. Fore tarsus with tooth minute or absent; antennal segments IV–VI uniformly brown; femora variously shaded brown (Fig. 18) ............................................................................................incognitus 6. Mid and hind tibiae and tarsi clear yellow ....................................................... bituberculatus -. Mid and hind tibiae light to dark brown ....................................................................7 7. Tergite IX S1 setae longer than tube; sense cones on antennal segment III equally large and stout (Fig. 17); fore wing sub-basal setae S3 weakly capitate .......................................................................... gowdeyi -. Tergite IX S1 setae no more than 0.75 as long as tube; inner sense cone on antennal segment III smaller and thinner than outer; fore wing sub-basal setae S3 acute ...............................................................tenuipennis 8. Maxillary stylets close together, less than 0.25 of head width apart (Fig. 11) .......................................9 -. Maxillary stylets more than 0.3 of head width apart (Figs 9–10) ...............................................10 9. Antennal segments III–VI clear yellow; mid and hind tarsi as dark brown as tibiae; fore tarsus with tooth in both sexes; antennal segment III about 65 microns long, 2.5 times as long as wide .............................................. jordani -. Antennal segments IV–VI light brown, III paler; mid and hind tarsi paler than tibiae; fore tarsal tooth absent or minute in both sexes; antennal segment III less than 50 microns long, 1.6 times as long as wide ............................imperatae 10. Fore wing sub-basal setae S3 very long and finely pointed, at least as long as basal width of wing; fore tarsus of female with hook-like tooth at inner apex (Fig. 13); mid and hind tarsi as dark as tibiae .......................................11 -. Fore wing sub-basal setae S3 not so long; fore tarsal tooth of female not hook-like; mid and hind tarsi usually paler than tibiae, sometimes yellow ....................................................................................12 11. Fore wing uniformly grey; epimeral setae 95 microns, postocular setae 60 microns ......................... fumipennis -. Fore wing uniformly pale; epimeral and postocular setae no more than 40 microns long (Fig. 9) ...................certus 12. Major pronotal setae including epimerals dark (Fig. 8); fore wing shaded base short, scarcely reaching sub-basal setae S1, setae S3 pointed; stylets retracted to po setae ................................................................anceps -. Major pronotal setae including epimerals pale (Fig. 7); fore wing shaded base extending at least to sub-basal setae S2, setae S3 capitate; stylets wider apart and lower ........................................................... ganglebaueri Haplothrips aliceae sp.n. (Figs 1–5) Female macroptera. Body almost bicoloured; head brown laterally but yellowish medially, pronotum yellowish with coxae darker, pterothorax