Taeniothrips zurstrasseni (Thysanoptera, Thripidae), a new thrips species

Thripidae is the largest family of the order Thysanoptera in Polish fauna, with 137 species belonging to 46 genera recorded to date (Kucharczyk 2007). Three species of the genus Taeniothrips Amyot & Serville,1843 have been known from Europe so far: Taeniothrips picipes (Zetterstedt, 1828), T. inconsequens (Uzel, 1898), and T. arbutti Boumier, 1983 (zur Strassen, 2003). T. picipes and T. inconsequens are distributed in the Palaearctic region, T. arbutti has been hitherto noted in south France, Spain and Morocco. T. picipes and T. inconsequens can be found all across Poland; both species are polyphagous T. picipes lives on flowers of many plants, T. inconsequens on spring flowers, mainly on the blossom of trees and shrubs, in particular Rosaceae. The specimens of Taeniothrips zurstrasseni sp. nov. were found on the territory of Słowiński National Park, winch is located in the central part of the Polish Baltic Coast, in a region with a relatively mild and windy climate characterized by mild winters, not very hot summers, a rather short growing period, with high relative humidity but low annual precipitation. The flora of the Park represents different habitats and geographical elements. Besides plants coimnon to the whole of central Europe, there are a number of plants typical of the boreal, Atlantic and oceanic climate (Piotrowska, 1997).

The holotype and some paratypes of the species have been deposited in the collection of the Department of Zoology of Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin. 1 '. 1 and one larva have been deposited in the Museum and Institute Zoology PAS in Warsaw.
Material examined: 16 ę, 1 3, 1.07.1998, on blooming Dactylorhiza maculata ', 2$, 7.07.2001, on  Diagnosis.Species of medium size, female and male dark (Fig. 1 & 2).Head with slightly convex sides of eyes and cheeks.Antennae relatively short.Medial segments rather thick-set, segment III of similar length as segments IV and VI, segment V usually almost twice as long as wide, stylus relatively long.Upper vein of forewing with 3 or 2 distal setae.Setae SI on metanotum located closer to the middle of sclerite, at a distance from fore margin; pair of campaniform sensilla absent, seldom one sensillum present.Setae SI on abdominal tergite I longer and stronger than on tergites II-V.Dorsal split on segment X usually absent.In males both canaliculi of aedeagus with strong thorn in distal part.
Larva II white-grey with dark spots on head and thorax, antennal stylus strikingly dark, dark band on hind parts of abdominal segments IX and X, and often with light red internal pigment spread all over the body.Antennal segment III without microtrichia.Hind margin of segment IX without comb.The sculpture is very subtle, plaques nearly flat in places, often without microtrichia, and sometimes without plaques.Setae rather long and slightly darkened, dorsal -strong and blunt at end, ventral -subtler and sharp at end.

Description
Female 1500-1840 pm long, body brown, fore legs and all tibiae slightly paler, especially in distal parts; all tarsi yellow.Antenna dark, only the apex of segments II, III and base of IV paler.Except light base part, forewing rather dark, beige-grey, darkest in region of vein bifurcation; also clavus partly darkened.Hindwing regularly light yellow-beige.Body and wing setae rather darkened, ovipositor yellowish.
Head (Fig. 3) 110-127 pm long, width in eyes 142-169 pm, behind eyes 137-165 pm, in cheeks 157-182 pm, maximally (in cheeks) 1.46-1.62times wider than longer.Compound eye 60-75 pm long, occupies 56.8-65.2% of dorsal length of head.Mouthcone 127-145 pm long, reaches slightly behind half of prothorax.Vertex and cheeks behind row of postocular setae with transverse sculptural lines; a few sculptural lines in central part present already from level of postocellar setae.Compound eyes with 3-4 setae; ommatidia slightly oval, 7-10 pm in diameter.Ocelli slightly oval, posterior ocelli 15-17 pm long, anterior ocellus usually slightly smaller.Anteocellar setae 20-28 pm long, inserted just near compound eyes, at level of anterior ocellus; interocellar setae between posterior ocelli, in the middle of their height, 60-80 pm long; postocellar setae very thin 7-12 pm long, located behind posterior ocelli.Postocular setae located closely to compound eyes, thin and slightly long, the longest S4 and S5 -27-35 pm long each, seta S2 usually not formed on the whole.
Abdomen (extended) 720-896 gm long, at level of segment V 230-275 gm wide.Setae SI on tergite I as a rule longer and stronger than on tergites II-VI, but differences in size not so striking as among females.Length of SI on tergite I 10-28 gm, on tergites II-VI 10-25 gm.Setae S2 on tergites II-VIII, all of similar length, 19-28 gm.Short, uneven sculptural lines with very small teeth in places present on tergite sides.Posteromarginal comb on tergite VIII complete, slightly less dense than in female, microtrichia of comb 12-20 gm long; tergite VIII lateral without microtrichia, or with only a very small number.Segment IX 57-70 gm long, 156-175 gm wide.Setae SI 25-38 gm, S2 45-58 gm long.On segment X dorsal split absent.
Antenna 200-215 gm long (Table 3), dark, segments II,VI and VII darkest, segment V distinctly separated from segment IV; sense cone on segment V 20-23 gm long.Thorax and abdomen with weakly developed sculpture, plaques oblong, often nearly flat, seldom placed in rows, or only slightly snakelike transverse sculptural lines present.Plaques without microtrichia on dorsal side of thorax, on ventral side and on abdomen with very short microtrichia in some places.Setae strong and relatively long, ending bluntly or with small tear on dorsal side of body; on ventral side slightly thinner and sharp ending.Pronotum with 7 pairs of small, roundish or slightly oval spots (10-18 gm in diameter) located in two oblong rows on sides of sclerite (Fig. 11).Setae D6 and D7 the longest on pronotum, both 52-63 gm long, D3 and D4 shortest and thinnest setae -13-20 |im long; remaining setae -D1 37-48, D2 45-50, D5 40-45 |xm long.Mesonotum with one pair of spots 25 x 27 pm in size; posterior seta (Dl) stronger and longer (37-45 pm long) than anterior seta (D2) -27-30 pm long.Metanotum with one pair of spots 12x17 pm large; posterior setae (D l) 42-50 pm long, anterior setae (D2) 25-32 pm long.All sternal setae of both segments significantly thinner and paler; VI very short -17-25 pm long on mesothorax, and 15-23 pm on metathorax; V2 very thin, of similar length 45-53 pm on both segments.Tiles of trochanter of middle and hind legs very weakly developed, their hind margins uneven, with small, sparse teeth ending with very short microtrichia.http://rcin.org.pl Abdominal segments with relatively long, strong and darkish tergal setae; sternal setae distinctly thinner, paler and most often shorter.For example: lengths of tergal setae on segment V are: D l -47-58, D2 -50-52, D3 -52-63 pm; sternal setae on segment V -VI -20-43, V2 -42-45, V3 -52-60 pm long.Abdominal tergite IX with caudal band sclerotized and pigmented from posterior margin to campaniform sensilla.Setae strong, D l 50-63, D2 67-75, D3 67-75 pm long.Hind margin of this segment without comb.Abdominal tergite X sclerotized and pigmented from posterior margin to + /-level of campaniform sensilla, ventral to seta V4.Thin, transverse sculptural lines with very subtle teeth in fore part of segment.Setae of segment X -except short and not coloured dorsolateral seta D2 (22-25 pm long) -strong and relatively long: D l (dorsal) 50-60 pm, D3 (lateral) 62-75 pm, and V4 (ventral) 70-83 pm long.Segment XI on ventral side chitinous and darkened in middle part.

Distinction
Three species of the genus Taeniothrips Amyot & Serville 1843 (zur Strassen 2003): T. picipes (Zetterstedt 1828}, T. inconsequens (Uzel 1895} and T. arbuti Boumier 1983) have been known so far in Europe.According to the main morphological characters T. zurstrasseni is the most similar to the first of the species mentioned above -T.picipes.However some essential differences can be found (Table 4).T. picipes occurs in the whole country.

Ecological remarks
On the basis of the data collected so far, one could think that Taeniothrips zurstrasseni is a resident of wetland areas and that Stachys palustris is the main (or one of the main) host for Taeniothrips zurstrasseni, at least in the study area.It also appears that the emergence and active life of the specimens of this species in the growing season starts just in June and lasts until the beginning of September.It is worth mentioning that this period coincides with the blooming period of Stachys palustris.The significance of the orchid Dactylorhiza maculata as a host plant for T. zurstrasseni in connection with its absence in the study area between 1999 and 2001 has not been explained.
Etymology.I dedicate this new species to Dr. Richard zur Strassen, a great authority on the taxonomy of Thysanoptera.

Table 4 .
Com parison o f T. zurstrasseni and T. picipes according to m ain m orphological characters.