Thrips fauna on mountainous regions in Taiwan Island, with description of a new species from montane areas, Thrips hehuanshanensis sp. nov. (Thysanoptera, Thripidae)

Thrips fauna on mountainous regions in Taiwan Island, with description of a new species from montane areas, Thrips hehuanshanensis sp. nov. (Thysanoptera, Thripidae)

Many species of thrips are known to severely damage crops in the world. Although systematic studies on thrips have been conducted in Taiwan, DNA barcodes, provide important information in species delimitation, have not been established for Taiwanese thrips. Moreover, few studies have been conducted on thrips diversity from mountainous Taiwan, especially with altitudes of >2000 m. The study herein, thrips samples were acquired by picking flowers and using sweep nets from Taiwan island, in which several montane localities are higher than 2000 in elevation. DNA barcodes of thrips species were recorded and analyzed. Twelve thrips were found to be distributed in montane areas, of which Frankliniella intonsa (Trybom) was the dominant one, followed by Thrips palmi Karny and Thrips flavus Schrank. A new species of montane (>2600 m) Thrips hehuanshanensis sp. nov., morphologically similar to Taiwanese thrips Thrips formosanus Priesner, and two Japanese thrips, Thrips floreus Kurosawa and Thrips shiranesanus Masumoto & Okajima, is named and described. In addition to the COI barcoding analyses for the new species, measurements of male and female individuals of their body size and seta numbers in the vertex, nota, and abdomen are provided.