Australian Thysanoptera – biological diversity and a diversity of studies

Abstract

Studies in Australia on thrips have had extensive impacts worldwide. In behaviour, the latest definition of eusociality is derived from work on the radiation of thrips on Acacia species in central Australia, and these Acacia thrips also having been used to develop the concept of 'model clades' for analysing the evolution of behavioural and ecological diversity. In ecology, the concept of the lack of density dependent factors in population dynamics was elaborated through studies on the plague thrips of southern Australia. In virology, thrips were first shown in Australia to be the vectors of tospoviruses, although these viruses, their vectors and the plants attacked are all non-native to this continent. Work in Australia has included the development of electronic methods of illustration, identification and information transfer about thrips, including the use of molecular methods for pest species recognition, and considerable advances have been made in Australia in our knowledge of the relationships between thrips and plants, from polyphagy to pollination.

Active aggregation among sexes in bean flower thrips (Megalurothrips sjostedti) on cowpea (Vigna unguiculata)

“…Although both sexes presented aggregation patterns, males were more aggregated than females and aggregations were mainly observed on the green plant parts, especially the leaves. Similar aggregation of males on terminal leaves were also observed in Pezothrips kellyanus Bagnall (Mound & Jackman, 1998; Mound, 2004; Navarro-Campos, 2013). However, previous reports on male aggregation of other thrips species indicated that it takes place mainly on the corolla of flowers (Kirk, 1985; Terry & Dyreson, 1996).…”

Biodiversity of Australasian Insects

“…Proteaceae seem, for the main part, to have avoided insect associations. Majer et al (1997) estimated that there could be between 15,000 and 20,000 species of phytophagous insects on Eucalyptus in Australia, including members of Hemiptera (especially psylloids and coccoids), Coleoptera, Diptera, and Lepidoptera (Austin et al 2004), but there is a conspicuous paucity of Thysanoptera (Mound 2004). The Chrysomelinae (leaf beetles) demonstrate a radiation associated with eucalypts of some 750 species, but are virtually lacking on Proteaceae (C. A. M. Reid, personal communication).…”

Populations of North American bean thrips, Caliothrips fasciatus (Pergande) (Thysanoptera: Thripidae: Panchaetothripinae) not detected in Australia

“…When considering the Australian thrips fauna it is useful to distinguish between 'exotic' species that have entered Australia from the Americas or from the northern hemisphere since the arrival of Europeans, in contrast to 'adventive' species that are shared with south-east Asia and have possibly entered Australia over a longer period of time (Mound 2004). In this connection it should be noted that the number of Thripidae Sutherst et al (2004).…”