Thrips reunionensis Goldarazena & Dianzinga & Frago & Michel & Reynaud 2020, sp.n.

<i>Thrips reunionensis</i> sp.n. <p> <i>Female macroptera</i>. Colour of macerated slide mounted females brown (Fig. 1), legs brown with tibia and tarsi yellow; antennal segments I–II brown, III mainly yellow (Fig. 7), IV–V yellow at base; fore wing shaded with basal area close to the clavus slightly clearer. Antennae 7-segmented. Ocellar setae III arising on the lateral side of the triangle, shorter than the distance between hind ocelli (Fig. 6). Pronotum with many transverse sculpture lines not closely spaced, about 40 discal setae, posteroangular setae about 0.6 as long as pronotum with 4 pairs of posteromarginal setae (Fig. 2). Mesonotal anteromedian campaniform sensilla present. Metanotum medially with longitudinal row of large slightly elongate reticles that lack internal markings, median setae not on anterior margin; campaniform sensilla present (Fig. 5). Fore wing first vein almost complete with 2 setae on distal third (Fig. 3); clavus with 5 marginal setae and 1 discal setae (Fig. 8). Abdominal tergites with sculpture lines extending to seta S2 but not between S1 and the campaniform sensilla (Fig. 13); tergite II with 3 lateral marginal setae (Fig. 11); ctenidia present on V–VIII. Pleurotergites with no discal setae and without microtrichia. Tergite VIII with comb of microtrichia complete, long and slender (Fig. 14). Sternites III–VII with 10–15 discal setae in one irregular row (Figs 9–10); II without discal setae and with 2 pairs of marginal setae.</p> <p> <b>Measurements</b> (holotype female in microns). Body length 1710. Head, length 121; width across eyes 146; ocellar setae II 9, III 23. Pronotum, length 128; width 230; posteroangular setae 85, 84. Fore wing length 997. Antennal segments I–VII length 26, 40, 65, 66, 46, 57, 15.</p> <p> <i>Male</i>. Similar to female but smaller and yellow (Fig. 4). Tergite VIII posteromarginal comb absent, microtrichia absent also laterally. Tergite IX setal pair S2 arising slightly behind pair S1, but arranged almost in straight line. Sternites III–VII each with transverse oval pore plate and one or two pairs of discal setae (Fig. 12).</p> <p> <b>Specimens studied</b>. Holotype female, <b>La Reunion Island</b>, on flowers of <i>Dombeya</i> sp. (Malvaceae), 14.vi.2018 (Enric Frago and Niry Dianzinga) in the collection of insects of the Centre de Biologie pour la Gestion des Populations (CBGP) Montpellier, France.</p> <p>Paratypes: 6 females and 12 males with the same data as holotype in CBGP Montpellier, 1 female and 1 male in Muséum national d’ Histoire naturelle, Paris.</p> <p> <b>Comments</b>. Using the key by Mound (2010) this species tracks to couplets 24 and 25 but it differs from <i>Thrips kurahashii</i> in the position of ocellar setae III and the presence of metanotal campaniform sensilla. The colour also is different, yellow in <i>T. kurahashii</i> and brown in <i>T. reunionensis</i>. Mound (2010) noted variation in <i>Thrips acaciae</i> but that species has four lateral marginal setae on tergite II, more than 24 discal setae in sternites III–VII and a weak comb of microtrichia on tergite VIII posterior margin.</p> <p> Because in <i>Thrips</i> the number of antennal segments within species may vary from seven to eight this species could be confused also with specimens of <i>Thrips simplex</i> with seven antennal segments. However, the male of <i>simplex</i> is black with longer and wider pore plates, and in both sexes the metanotal campaniform sensilla are absent and the metanotal reticles have internal markings. Moreover, the fore wings of <i>T. simplex</i> have a long white proximal area that is light brown in <i>T. reunionensis</i>.</p>Published as part of <i>Goldarazena, Arturo, Dianzinga, Niry T., Frago, Enric, Michel, Bruno & Reynaud, Philippe, 2020, A new species of the genus Thrips (Thysanoptera, Thripidae) from the Malagasy Region, pp. 443-446 in Zootaxa 4750 (3)</i> on pages 443-446, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4750.3.13, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/3707452">http://zenodo.org/record/3707452</a&gt

The interacting effect of habitat amount, habitat diversity and fragmentation on insect diversity along elevational gradients

Aim: Elevational gradients are a useful approach to evaluate how environmental factors affect animal diversity. Decades of studies on the elevation-diversity gradient have revealed that this gradient varies greatly with taxa and geographic regions. One potential explanation for this may be the dependence of the relationship on landscape features. We explore the impact of fragmentation, habitat diversity and habitat amount on insect diversity (alpha and beta) and abundance along elevational gradients. We hypothesize that insect diversity and abundance will relate negatively with elevation, but positively with these landscape features. We also hypothesize that landscape features will interact in a way that the positive effect of a given variable on insect diversity may be offset by the others. Location: Reunion Island (Indian Ocean). Taxon: The insect order thrips (Thysanoptera). Methods: Insects were sampled along replicated elevational gradients, and at each sampling plot landscape features and abiotic variables were estimated within buffers surrounding the site. Insect alpha diversity was estimated using abundance-based rarefaction methods, whereas beta diversity was estimated calculating the "Local contributions to beta diversity" metric. The effect of elevation, rainfall, landscape features and their interactions was assessed on insect alpha and beta diversity and abundance during two consecutive seasons using linear mixed effects models. Results: We found that thrips alpha and beta diversity was negatively related with elevation, but the relationship varied between seasons and rainfall regimes. Among the different landscape features considered, we found that habitat amount had the strongest effect on diversity. The effect of habitat amount on diversity, however, was offset in areas of low habitat (or land cover) diversity. Main conclusions: Generalizing the factors that underlie the elevation diversity gradient has become a cornerstone in ecological theory because it can help to understand the impact of human activities on diversity. Here we show that taking landscape information into account may help to fulfil this objective because landscape effects co-vary with elevation with often intricate consequences for diversity