Head as long as broad or longer than broad; postocular setae well developed, shorter or as long as eyes. Antenna eight-segmented, segment III with 0+1 sense cone, IV with 1+2 sense cones. Maxillary stylets long, reaching eyes and close together in the middle of head and maxillary bridge absent. Prothorax usually with five pairs of setae, sometimes am minute; notopleural sutures complete; basantra absent. Mesopresternum boat-shaped or divided into two parts; metathoracic sternopleural sutures present or absent. Fore tarsus without tooth in both sexes. Fore wing parallel-sided, with numerous duplicated cilia. Pelta broadly triangular; abdominal tergites II–VII with two pairs of sigmoid wing-retaining setae; tergite IX with S1 and S2 setae shorter or as long as tube. Male without a pore plate on abdominal sternite VIII.

The species of Psephenothrips are similar to Liothrips, but they are distinguished by the long maxillary stylets that are close together in the middle of the head and abdominal segment VIII without a pore plate in the male. This genus is also closely related to Eurhynchothrips in body shape as well most characters including those above (Mound 1968). In this study, these two genera could not be separated from each other. However, according to the generic diagnosis (Mound 1968; Dang et al. 2014), Psephenothrips can be distinguished from Eurhynchothrips only by having no stout maxillary bridge and that is the reason this new species, P. eriobotryae sp.nov., is considered to be a species of Psephenothrips. They both are poorly-defined genera in the Liothrips-lineage and the relationship between them is extremely confused and requires further considerable study.

Described recently from Taiwan, this species was based on three females collected from dead wood. However, as it shares the characteristics of the Liothrips-lineage, it presumably feeds on green leaves. In this study, no specimen was examined, but antennal segments VI–VIII were described as uniformly dark brown and this distinguishes the species within the genus Psephenothrips.

As with P. baiheensis, this species was described from Taiwan and was based on six females and three males from Cymbidium. We did not see any specimens of P. cymbidas and the original description “mid tibiae greyish brown and fore wings pale brown” is not strong evidence for distinguishing the species from P. strasseni and other Psephenothrips species. The mesopresternum, divided into two parts that may be narrowly connected, could be an obvious distinguishing characteristic, but its form needs to be verified in further study.

Holotype. ♀ (SUT), China, Sichuan Province, Guangyuan City, Fenghuangshan Park, on the leaves of loquat tree (Eriobotrya japonica (Thunb.) Lindl, 07.viii.2018, L.H. Dang, Y. Hu & D.L. Xie. Paratypes. 3♂, with the same data as holotype.

Body uniform brown (Fig. 8); head as long as wide (Figs 1, 8), postocular setae shorter than eyes, very weakly expanded at apex (Fig. 1); maxillary stylets retracted into eyes, little wide apart (Figs 1, 8); pronotal am minute, other four pairs of major setae well-developed, weakly expanded at apex (Fig. 1); mesopresternum boat-shaped with a protrusion (Figs 5, 10); metathoracic sternopleural sutures absent; fore wing sub-basal setae S1 about as long as S2, expanded at apex, S3 small, pointed (Fig. 4); female abdominal tergite IX setae S1 and S2 shorter than tube (Figs 2, 15); male abdominal sternite without a pore plate, S2 setae of tergite IX short and stout (Figs 6, 14).

Figures 1–7. 

Psephenothrips eriobotryae sp. nov. 1 head, pronotum and fore legs 2 tergites I, female 3 pelta 4 base of forewing 5 mesopresternum 6 tergites IX–X, male 7 antenna.

Holotype. Female macroptera. Body brown (Fig. 8). Antennal segments I–II and VII–VIII brown, III yellow, IV–V yellow, but apically brownish, VI brown with basal part yellow (Fig. 13); fore tibiae yellowish-brown with brown at basal 1/3, all tarsi yellow, rest of legs brown (Fig. 8). All major setae yellowish-brown.

Figures 8–15. 

Psephenothrips eriobotryae sp. nov. 8 adult, female 9 adult, male 10 prosternum and mesopresternum 11 meso-, metanotum and pelta 12 head and pronotum 13 antenna 14 tergites IX–X, male 15 tergites IX–X, female. Scale bars: 100 μm.

Head. Head as long as wide (Figs 1, 8); dorsal surface weakly sculptured with transverse striae, ocellar region smooth; postocular setae shorter than eyes, very weakly expanded at apex (Fig. 1); cheeks gradually narrowed towards base, with a few stout setae; mouth-cone rounded, maxillary stylets retracted into eyes, little wide apart (Figs 1, 8). Antennae 8-segmented, VIII weakly constricted at base, slightly shorter than VII, sense cones stout, III with 0+1, VI with 1+2, V–VI with 1+1, respectively (Fig. 7).

Thorax. Pronotum almost smooth, notopleural sutures complete (Figs 1, 12), am minute, other four pairs of major setae well-developed, weakly expanded at apex, epim about as long as pa (Fig. 1); metanotum weakly sculptured with reticulation, with pointed setae (Fig. 11); mesopresternum boat shaped with a protruding (Figs 5, 10), metathoracic sternopleural sutures absent. All legs normal, without fore tarsal tooth (Fig. 1); fore wing parallel sided (Fig. 8), with 8–14 duplicated cilia, sub-basal wing setae arranged in a triangle, S1 about as long as S2, expanded at apex, S3 small, pointed (Fig. 4).

Abdomen. Pelta round triangled and reticulate (Figs 3, 11); abdominal tergites II–VII with two pairs of wing-retaining setae; tergite IX setae S1 and S2 shorter than tube, nearly pointed or narrowly blunt at apex (Figs 2, 15); tube about 2.0 times as long as basal width, anal setae slightly shorter than tube.

Measurements (holotype female in microns). Body length 2545. Head length 215, width across eyes 215; eye length 83, width 65; postocular setae length 38. Antennae length 450, segments I–VIII lengths 46, 58, 65, 60, 55, 55, 44 and 41. Pronotum length 163, width 315, length of pronotal setae, am 5, aa 30, ml 25, epim 65, pa 65. Fore wing length 895, wing sub-basal S1–S3, 40, 35 and 15. Pelta length 110, width 200; tergite IX posteromarginal setae S1–S3, 105, 85 and 102; tube length 165, basal width 88, width in the middle 68, at apex 38; anal setae length 160.

Male macroptera. Very similar to female (Fig. 9), fore legs without fore tarsal tooth (Fig. 9); abdominal sternite without a pore plate, S2 setae of tergite IX short and stout (Figs 6, 14).

Measurements (paratype male in microns). Body length 2190. Head length 195, width across eyes 203; eye length 75, width 65; postocular setae length 60. Antennae length 460, segments I–VIII length 42, 60, 65, 62, 57, 57, 55 and 45. Pronotum length 150, width 370, length of pronotal setae, am 10, aa 38, ml 40, epim 75, pa 56. Fore wing length 860, wing sub-basal S1–S3, 38, 30 and 20. Pelta length 95, width 175; tergite IX posteromarginal setae S1–S3, 120, 45 and 155; tube length 185, basal width 90, width in the middle 65, at apex 38; anal setae length 155.

It includes 1492 bp with the GenBank number MW567215.

This species name is composed of one Latin word, eriobotryae, based on its host plant.

Comments. This new species can be distinguished from the other members of Psephenothrips by having pronotal am minute. It is similar to P. leptoceras in body shape and colour, but differs in having postocular setae shorter than eyes (Figs 1, 8), sub-basal setae S3 small and pointed at apex (Fig. 4), and posteromarginal setae of tergite IX much shorter than tube (Figs 2, 15). In P. leptoceras, the postocular setae are about as long as eyes (Fig. 16), sub-basal setae S3 are as long as S2 and expanded at apex (Fig. 21), and posteromarginal setae of tergite IX are slightly shorter than tube (Fig. 19).

Described from Japan on dead branches, this species was recorded from Taiwan on Rhus semialata by Wang and Lin (2020). It is here recorded from the Chinese mainland in Yunnan Province for the first time, based on five females and one male from a mango tree. Although the original description stated this species was collected from dead branches, it could be feeding on green leaves.

Figures 16–25. 

Psephenothrips leptoceras 16 head, pronotum and fore leg 17 mesopresternum 18 meso- and metanotum 19 tergites IX–X, female 20 antenna 21 base of forewing 22 tergites V–VI 23 pelta 24 metathoracic sternopleural suture, left 25 tergites IX–X, male.

Described from Taiwan by Moulton (1928), this species was transferred by Okajima (2006) to the genus Psephenothrips after checking the types and many specimens from Japan. Subsequently, Liothrips machilus Ananthakrishnan and Varadarasan (1978) from India was synonymised with P. machili by Tyagi and Kumar (2012), based on all paratypes and three females. These specimens were all collected from leaves of Machilus sp., but no specimen was examined in the present study. According to the re-description by Okajima (2006), this species is similar to P. eriobotryae sp.nov., but can be distinguished by the well-developed pronotal am setae and sub-basal wing setae S3 developed and expanded at the apex. Moreover, they feed on different plants.