A NEW BRAZILIAN SPECIES OF HETEROTHRIPS (INSECTA, THYSANOPTERA) COEXISTING WITH ANTS IN THE FLOWERS OF PEIXOTOA-TOMENTOSA (MALPIGHIACEAE)

Heterothrips peixotoa Del-Claro, Marullo and Mound is described as new . It has remarkably pale forewings, and lives in the flowers of a malp ighiaceous shrub in Brazilian cerrado. The sepals of each flower are S -shaped and enclose a central cavity within which the thrips live and breed. Although some large ants are unable to penetrate this cavity, o ther ants are small enough to enter the space between the petals and s epals, and this leads to a reduction in thrips numbers. Several other members of this genus of thrips are known from the flowers of other sp ecies of Malpighiaceae.