jear2012 [Journal of Entomological and Acarological Research 2015; 47:5090] [page 69] The first record of Dendrothrips aspersus (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) from Iran K. Minaei Department of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran Abstract The species Dendrothrips aspersus Bhatti, 1971 is reported for the first time from Iran, based on the materials collected on grasses. This species was endemic to their originated region and is recorded for the first time outside their native range. The host records of D. aspersus in both India and Iran are discussed. Moreover, the number of thrips species that have been recently recorded from Iran are tabulated. Introduction In the most recent treatment of the insect order Thysanoptera, 9 families have been recognised (Mound, 2011b). However, most of the species belongs to these two families: Phlaeothripidae and Thripidae. Although Thripidae is the second largest family of Thysanoptera, it is much more abundant than Phlaeothripidae in temperate regions (ThripsWiki, 2015), and this situation is also true for Iran, where 125 species (including one species group) of Thripidae versus 45 species of Phlaeothripidae (Minaei, 2013) were collected. A large proportion of thripids are flower and leaf-feeders. In Iran, three genera (Dendrothrips Usel, Iranodendrothrips Alavi, Minaei & Fekrat, Pseudodendrothrips Schmutz) with seven species are known in Dendrothripinae. An identification key for those gen- era and species including four species in Dendrothrips are also avail- able (Alavi et al., 2014). The purpose of this paper is to report Dendrothrips aspersus as the fifth species in this genus in Iran. This is also the first record of this species outside India. Materials and methods Thrips specimens were collected into ethanol (70%) and then mounted on to the glass slides in Canada balsam. The photomicro- graphs and measurements were taken using a Motic BA310 micro- scope with Motic Image Plus 2.0 ML software. Most of the specimens are deposited in Department of Plant Protection, Shiraz University, Iran (PPSU) with two females in Australian National Insect Collection, Canberra (CSIRO). Results Dendrothrips aspersus Bhatti, 1971 Dendrothrips aspersus Bhatti, 1971: 349. FEMALE MACROPTERA: Body generally yellow (Figure 1), anten- nal segments V-VIII brown; pronotum yellow with brown spots medi- ally and anterolaterally; tergites with brown markings on lateral thirds, two pairs of longitudinal markings joined by two transverse markings on III-VII, but the posterior transverse marking usually absent on II and V; forewing white with three brown spots; major body setae pale. Antennae 8-segmented (Figure 2A), segments III and IV each with simple sense-cones, III to VI each with two to five rows of microtrichia on dorsal and ventral surface; segments V cylindrical; VI not constricted basally, its inner sense-cone exceeding apex of seg- ment VIII. Head transverse (Figure 2B), wider than long; ocellar setae pair I absent, pairs II and III minute, ocellar setae III located just outside the triangle (in front of posterior ocelli). Pronotum wider than long (Figure 2B), granulate, without distinct transverse lines, with no elongate setae, shallowly concave at each side near posterior margin, with about 20 discal setae; posterior mar- gin with about 10 setae; ferna divided; prospinasterum well devel- oped. Mesonotum sculptured with transverse anastomosing striae (Figure 2C), without campaniform sensilla; pair of median setae sit- Correspondence: Kambiz Minaei, Department of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran. E-mail: kminaei@shirazu.ac.ir Acknowledgements: I am grateful to L. A. Mound (CSIRO, Canberra, Australia) as well as K. Tyagi (Molecular Systematics Division, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata, India) for help me in identification of the species discussed in this paper. J. S. Bhatti kindly sent me a copy of his valuable paper on Indian Dendrothrips. Two anonymous reviewers provided me with detailed criticisms and corrections to an earlier draft. Key words: Dendrothripinae; Iran, grass; new record; thrips. Received for publication: 9 February 2015. Revision received: 14 June 2015. Accepted for publication: 14 June 2015. ©Copyright K. Minaei, 2015 Licensee PAGEPress, Italy Journal of Entomological and Acarological Research 2015; 47:5090 doi:10.4081/jear.2015.5090 This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License (by-nc 3.0) which permits any noncom- mercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the orig- inal author(s) and source are credited. Journal of Entomological and Acarological Research 2012; volume 44:e Journal of Entomological and Acarological Research 2015; volume 47:5090 No n- co mm er cia l u se on ly [page 70] [Journal of Entomological and Acarological Research 2015; 47:5090] uated medially. Metascutum reticulate distinctively with no campani- form sensilla, pair of minute median setae situated far from anterior margin. Forewing with 3 grayish spots along anterior margin and one next to scale along posterior margin, not covered with microtrichia, with costal margin downturned, scale with three to four veinal seate and one discal seta; remaining wing setae small and finely acute. Tarsi one-segmented. Lateral sides of abdominal tergites II-VIII with reticulations; ter- gites III to VII with microtrichia along posterior margin behind S1 and S2 setae; tergite VIII with posteromarginal comb complete; tergites IX and X with some rows of microtrichia; tergite IX longer than tergite X, S1 slightly longer than S2; tergite X not divided (Figure 2D). REMARKS: The species is distinguished from other recorded species of Dendrothrips in Iran (D. phyllireae, D. saltatrix, D. karnyi, D. deggeri) by the absence of prominent posteroangular setae as well as eight segmented antennae. The posteroangular setae are not developed in both deggeri and phyllireae as do in aspersus. However, the number of antennal segments in deggeri and phyllireae are 9 and 7 respectively while this is 8 for aspersus. MEASUREMENTS (one female, in micrometers): Body length 910. Head, length (width across cheeks) 78 (157). Pronotum median length (width) 92 (183). Fore wing length 6665. Tergite IX median length S1 setae length 40, S2 setae length 43. Ovipositor length 160. Antennal segments I-VIII length: 22, 26, 30, 28, 26, 22, 9, 11. MATERIAL STUDIED: Iran, Fars province, Shiraz, 1 female on Cynodon dactylon, 15.viii.2014 (KM 1241) (in ANIC); same locality and plant, 2 females, 16. viii.2014 (KM 1243); same locality and plant, 3 females, 29. viii. 2014 (KM 1250); same locality and plant, 6 females (1 in ANIC), 5. ix. 2014 (KM 1255, 1256). Discussion and conclusions Dendrothrips aspersus was described by Bhatti in 1971 from India based on specimens collected on Zizyphus flowers (family Rhamanaceae) and leaves of Acacia (family Fabaceae) with an iden- tification key to 13 species of Dendrothrips. Recently, Bhagat (2011) collected this species on the same plants from Jammu and Kashmir state of India. There is no report of this species outside India, so this is the first record outside this sub-continent. The fauna of Iran shares many species with the European Mediterranean area (Minaei, 2013), but Oriental region has also a considerable influence on the Iranian fauna. The presence of D. aspersus in Iran confirms that statement. The species of the genus Dendrothrips are mainly associated with two plant families, Oleaceae and Flacourtiaceae (Marullo, 2003), however, two species have been collected on Vitex sp (Fam. Lamiaceae). These include D. minutus (Ananthakrishnan, 1961) as well as D. karnyi (zur Strassen, 2003). Furthermore, D. aspersus has just apparently collected on Ziziphus sp. and Acacia sp. Despite the foregoing, all specimens of D. aspersus in this study were collected from leaves of grasses (family Poaceae), which were grown up in an olive garden, but there are no documents, which demonstrate that olive (family Oleaceae) may be a host for the species. The host plant recognition in Thysanoptera is difficult (Mound, 2013). Mound (1999, 2011a) demonstrated that among Dendrothripinae, none of Dendrothrips species is associated with grasses. From the last two decades the number of thrips species described or recorded in Iran increased. Minaei (2013) reported 202 species (including one species group) from Iran. Later on, 19 species includ- ing one new genus and 10 new species have been recorded from Iran (Table 1). Some of the species were synonymised (Table 2), consider- ing the reports of Thrips viminalis (Rahemi et al., 2010), of two Haplothrips species, H. cahirensis (Trybom 1911) and H. knechteli Priesner (Fallahzadeh & Saghaei, 2012) not in Minaei checklist (Minaei, 2013), the number of species of Thysanoptera known from Iran grows to 223. Article Figure 1. Dendrothrips aspersus, female. Figure 2. Dendrothrips aspersus, female. A) Antenna; B) Head and pronotum; C) Mesonotum and metanotum; D) Abdominal tergites VII-X. No n- co mm er cia l u se on ly References ALAVI J., MINAEI K., FEKRAT L., 2014 - The Iranian Dendrothripinae (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) with description of a new genus and species. - Zootaxa 3860: 479-486. ALAVI J., MODARRES AWAL M., FEKRAT L., MINAEI K., 2013 - The genus Mycterothrips (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) in Iran, with three new species. - Zootaxa 3718: 345-356. ANANTHAKRISHNAN T.N., 1961 - Studies on some Indian Thysanoptera VI. - Zool. Anzieger 167: 259-271. BHAGAT R.C., 2011 - Species richness and Host-plant diversity of Thrips (Thripidae: Thysanoptera) in Jammu & Kashmir. Indian J. Appl. Pure Biol. 26: 85-89. BHATTI J.S., 1971 - Five new species of Dendrothrips Uzel, with a key to the Indian species (Thysanoptera: Thripidae). - Orient. Insects 5: 345-359. FALLAHZADEH M., SAGHAEI N., 2012 - New data on the fauna of Thysanoptera in Fars Province-Iran. - Afr. J. Agric. Res. 7: 5548-5552. FEKRAT L., MANZARI S., 2014 - First report of Scolothrips dilongicor- nis (Thysanoptera, Thripidae) from Iran. - J. Entomol. Soc. Iran 34:43-44. GHOLAMI N., FEKRAT L., MANZARI S., 2014 - First record of Thrips juniperinus (Thys.: Thripidae) from Iran. - J. Entomol. Soc. Iran 34: 65-66. JAHANGIRI SISAKHT N., HABIBPOUR B., RAMEZANI L., 2014 - The first report of the species Thrips italicus (Thys.: Thripidae) from Iran. - J. Entomol. Soc. Iran 34: 21-22 [in Persian]. MARULLO R., 2003 - Host relationships at plant family level Uzel in Dendrothrips (Thysanoptera: Thripidae: Dendrothripinae) with a new Australian species. - Aust. J. Entomol. 42: 46-50. MINAEI K., 2013 - Thrips (Insecta, Thysanoptera) of Iran: a revised and updated checklist. - Zookeys 330: 53-74. MINAEI K., 2014a - A new species of Eremiothrips from Iran (Thysanoptera: Thripidae). - Acta Entomol. Mus. Nat. Pragae 54: 29-34. MINAEI K., 2014b - New record of predatory thrips, Aeolothrips melaleu- cus (Thysanoptera, Aeolothripidae) from Iran. - Linzer biol. Beitr. 46: 637-642. MINAEI K., ABDOLLAHI M., 2015 - Predators of leaf-feeding mites, Scolothrips (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), in Iran with first descrip- tion of the female of Scolothrips tenuipennis. - Zool. Ecol- 25: 36-66. MINAEI K., ALAVI J., FEKRAT L., ALEOSFOOR M., 2014 - First record of the genus Eryngyothrips from Iran with description of a new species (Thysanoptera: Thripidae). - Acta Entomol. Mus. Nat. Pragae 54: 455-460. MINAEI K., MOUND LA., 2014a - New synonymy in the wheat thrips, Haplothrips tritici (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae). - Zootaxa 3802: 596-599. MINAEI K., MOUND LA., 2014b - The genus Sitothrips (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) with a new grass-living species from southern Iran. Zootaxa 3884: 594-596. MINAEI K., MOUND LA., 2014c - The Liothrips-lineage of thrips (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae) from Iran with the first record of micropterous morph of a Liothrips species. - Zootaxa 3889: 107-117. MINAEI K., MOUND LA., 2015 - Thysanoptera disjunct distribution between western America and the Mediterranean with a new Psilothrips species (Thripidae) from Iran. - Dtsch. Entomol. Z. 62: 1-7. MIRAB-BALOU M., 2013 - A newly recorded species of the genus Thrips (Insecta: Thysanoptera) from Iran. - Nat. Monten. 12: 251-254. MIRAB-BALOU M., 2014a - A newly recorded species of the genus Haplothrips (Insecta: Thysanoptera) from Iran. - J. Crop Prot. 3: 557-561. MIRAB-BALOU M., 2014b - First report of the genus and species of Nesothrips brevicollis (Bagnall) (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae) from Iran. - J. Crop Prot. 3: 99-103. MIRAB-BALOU M., JAMALI J., TONG X.L., 2014a - Neohydatothrips ila- mensis n. sp. (Insecta: Thysanoptera: a new species from Iran. - Arch. Biol. Sci. 66: 969-973. MIRAB-BALOU M., NOUROLLAHI KH., JAMALI J., 2014b - A new species of the genus Anaphothrips (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) from Ilam province, Iran. - Far East. Entomol. 273: 21-24. MIRAMIRKHANI N., FEKRAT L. MANZARI, S. SADEGHI NAMGHI H., 2014 - A newyly recorded genus and species of Phlaeothripinae, Karnyothrips flavipes (Jones, 1912) (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae) from Iran. Proceeding of the 21th Iranian Plant Protection Congress. p. 430. MOUND L.A., 1999 - Saltatorial leaf-feeding Thysanoptera (Thripidae, Dendrothripinae) in Australia and New Caledonia, with newly recorded pests of ferns, figs and mulberries. - Aust. J. Entomol. 38: 257-273. MOUND L.A., 2011a - Grass-dependent Thysanoptera of the family Thripidae from Australia. - Zootaxa 3064: 1-40. MOUND L.A., 2011b - Order Thysanoptera Haliday, 1836. pp 201-202 In: ZHANG Z.-Q. (ed.), Animal biodiversity: an outline of higher- level classification and survey of taxonomic richness. - Zootaxa 3148:1-237. [Journal of Entomological and Acarological Research 2015; 47:5090] [page 71] Article Table 1. The species recorded in Iran after the Checklist by Minaei (2013). Species* Family Reference Aeolothrips melaleucus Aeolothripidae Minaei, 2014b Anaphothrips microptera Thripidae Mirab-balou et al., 2014b Eremiothrips eshghii Thripidae Minaei, 2014a Eryngyothrips banihashemii Thripidae Minaei et al., 2014 Haplothrips verbasci Phlaeothripidae Mirab-balou, 2014a Iranodendrothrips kamalii Thripidae Alavi et al., 2014 Karnyothrips flavipes Phlaeothripidae Miramirkhani et al., 2014 Neohydatothrips ilamensis Thripidae Mirab-balou et al., 2014a Nesothrips brevicollis Phlaeothripidae Mirab-balou, 2014b Mycterothrips mahvelatensis Thripidae Alavi et al., 2013 Mycterothrips nastarani Thripidae Alavi et al., 2013 Mycterothrips sanubari Thripidae Alavi et al., 2013 Psilothrips zygophylli Thripidae Minaei & Mound, 2015 Scolothrips dilongicornis Thripidae Fekrat & Manzari, 2014 Scolothrips tenuipennis Thripidae Minaei & Abdollahi, 2015 Sitothrips izadpanahi Thripidae Minaei & Mound, 2014b Thrips juniperinus Thripidae Gholami et al., 2014 Thrips italicus Thripidae Jahangiri et al., 2014 Thrips longiceps (Bagnall) Thripidae Mirab-balou, 2013 *Full details of scientific names are provided by ThripsWiki (2015). Table 2. Nomenclature changes in thrips species recorded in Iran after the Checklist by Minaei (2013). Species Change Reference Haplothrips cerealis Synonymised with H. tritici Minaei & Mound, 2014a Ataliothrips reuteri Moved to Liothrips Minaei & Mound, 2014c No n- co mm er cia l u se on ly [page 72] [Journal of Entomological and Acarological Research 2015; 47:5090] MOUND L.A., 2013 - Homologies and host-plant specificity: recurrent problems in the study of thrips. - Fla. Entomol. 96: 318-322. RAHEMI S., HASHEMI KHABIR Z., SADEGHI SE., MOHARRAMIPOUR S., SHOJAI M., ZEINALI S., 2010 - Report of willow thrips Thrips vimi- nalis Uzel (Thy.: Thripidae) from Iran. - J. Forest Range Protect. Res. 8: 89-91. THRIPSWIKI, 2015 - ThripsWiki-providing information on the World’s thrips. Available from: http://thrips.info/wiki/ Accessed: 10 Jan, 2015. ZUR STRASSEN R., 2003 - Die terebranten Thysanopteren Europas und des Mittelmeer-Gebietes. - Die Tierwelt Deutschlands und der angrenzenden Meeresteile 74: 1-277 [in German]. Article No n- co mm er cia l u se on ly