A New Species of Charassothrips Hood from Colombia (Insecta, Thysanoptera, Thripidae) with an Updated Key to the Known Species

Charassothrips macroseta sp.n. is described and illustrated from Colombia. A key is provided to the five species now recognised in the Neotropical genus Charassothrips, each of which has the head and pronotum, mesonotum and metanotum prominently sculptured and the abdominal tergites with a craspedum on the posterior margins.


Introduction
The Thysanoptera fauna of the South American country Colombia is poorly known. For example, the subfamily Thripinae includes 260 genera worldwide, but although 75 of these are recorded from Central America (Mound and Marullo 1996) only 20 genera have been reported from Colombia. This low number presumably reflects a lack of collecting activity, and systematic studies because the thrips fauna of Colombia is expected to be highly diverse, considering the topographical and floristic diversity of the country. Moreover, many taxa are known to be widespread between the countries of meso-America and Brazil, and this paper concerns one such genus.
The genus Charassothips was erected by Hood (1954) for a single species from Belem, Brazil, taken from the cylindrical inflorescence of an aquatic plant, Urospatha caudata (Araceae). Subsequently, the same species was found in Costa Rica breeding on cylindrical inflorescences of a related plant, Urospatha friedrichstallii (Mound and Marullo 1996).  described a new genus Humboldthrips for two new species from Mexico, taken in the cylindrical inflorescences of species of Piper (Piperaceae). Both species were subsequently found in Costa Rica, co-existing in the inflorescences of a single species of Piper, and one of them was also found on a similar plant in southern Brazil (Mound and Marullo 1996). Moreover, because of the many similarities between the three thrips species, the genus Humboldthrips was synonymised with Charasothrips by Mound and Marullo (1996). Subsequently, Johansen (1996) described from Mexico a fourth related species taken from the forest canopy using an insecticide fogging technique.
The purpose of the present paper is to describe a further new species of Charassothrips from Colombia. This new species was taken from several different plants near Bogota, particularly from Asteraceae flowers that are very different in form from the known hosts of other species of Charassothrips. Unfortunately, there is no evidence that any of these was the host on which this thrips breeds.

Material and methods
The specimens examined during this study were collected by L. A. Mound, and processed onto microscope slides at the Natural History Museum, London, using the standard procedure detailed on the web site (http://anic.ento.csiro.au/thrips/) and were then were identified and deposited in the British Museum of Natural History (BMNH). Samples of the three known species and the type series of the new species were borrowed and examined by A. Goldarazena. Charassothrips leonilavazquezae is known only from the male holotype and the information presented here is based on the original description. Dr. Johansen was unwilling to loan the holotype for security reasons. Information about the genus and other known species were obtained mainly from Mound and Marullo (1996). Measurements of the holotype and a male paratype of the new species were taken using a digital Leica 6500B microscope and the images were produced using differential interference contrast microscopy.

Charassothrips incomparabilis
The holotype and paratypes were collected on mosses and lichens growing on trunks of unknown trees in a mesophylous montane rain forest ). This species was later captured more frequently in the inflorescences of Piper auritum and P. aduncum in Sierra Madre Oriental (Johansen 1996). C. incomparabilis has antennal segment V slightly constricted apically, whereas this segment is as broad as the base of VI in C. urospathae. The craspeda on tergites V-VI are dentate laterally, and the tergites have several lines of sculpture medially. The median setae on tergites II-IV are longer and closer together in specimens studied from Costa Rica than in those available from Mexico (Mound and Marullo 1996).

Charassothrips leonilavazquezae (Johansen & Mojica-Guzman)
Humboldthrips leonilavazquezae Johansen & Mojica-Guzman, 1996: 48 This species is based to a single male collected using canopy fogging in the Tropical Deciduous Forest in Jalisco State. According to the description, the body is bicoloured with head, prothorax and abdominal segments II-III dark chesnut brown. In contrast, the pterothorax, middle and hind legs as well as abdominal segments I, IV and X are yellow. Males of C. piperaffinis and C. incomparabilis are similar to each other, and apparently differ from leonilavazquezae, in having the pterothorax brown, and abdominal segments III-VIII brown but sharply white laterally. (Johansen) Humboldthrips piperaffinis Johansen, 1986: 724 Charassothrips piperaffinis (Johansen) Mound & Marullo, 1996: 108 C. piperaffinis is very similar in colour to C. incomparabilis. This species was collected from the same Piper species as C. incomparabilis, but the long ovipositor of females might indicate that eggs are laid in a different position on the flowers in these two species (Mound and Marullo 1996).
Paratypes: 11 females 6 males with the same data as the holotype -9 females, 6 males in (BMNH) 1 female in National Museum of Natural History, Washington D.C., and 1 female in Australian National Insect This species was collected originally at Belem, Brazil on Urospatha caudata. The abdominal craspeda bear marginal microtrichia laterally, but the teeth of the comb on tergite VIII are unusual in being long and slender but with a relatively broad, parallel-sided base. The head, prothorax, pterothorax and abdominal segments are brown.

Discussion
Variation between species within this genus is particularly interesting, involving the number of antennal segments, the form of the major setae, the body colour, and the markings within the surface reticulation. C. macroseta, C. incomparabilis and C. urospathae each have eight antennal segments, whereas C. leonilavazquezae and C. piperaffinis have seven segments. C. urospathae has the abdominal segments uniformly brown, but C. incomparabilis and C. macroseta have abdominal segments III-VII white laterally with a brown spot medially. In C. incomparabilis, the brown spot is irregular, semicircular and bigger than in C. macroseta, where it is circular. This character might be dependent on the developmental stage of the thrips, but all the examined specimens of C. macrosetae have the same circular spot in the central area of the abdominal segments. Abdominal segment VIII is brown in C. incomparabilis but yellow in C. macroseta. The pronotal sculpture also differs between and within species. Females of C. incomparabilis have markings within the pronotal reticles whereas these are not present in C. macroseta. Males of C. incomparabilis and C. macroseta share that character. The pronotal, mesonotal and metanotal setae are bigger and clearly grooved longitudinally in C. macroseta, whereas in C. incomparabilis these setae are slender and acute.