Abstract
Twenty-one species of leaf-feeding thrips from Australia in the genus Scirtothrips, including eleven newly described species, are here distinguished with an identification key and illustrations. Some of these species are host-specific, but with diverse host associations, including tree ferns, two different genera of cycads, Acacia, Allocasuarina, Brachychiton, Hakea, and Kunzea. Two new speciesgroups, based on S. albomaculatus and S. akakia, are distinguished, both with several species on endemic species of Acacia. In contrast, other species are highly polyphagous, and some of these are crop pests, including S. dorsalis and S. aurantii, the South African citrus thrips that was introduced recently to Queensland. Three species are part of the northern tropical fauna, S. dorsalis, S. dobroskyi, and S. tenor, whereas most of the others are endemic to the arid areas of Australia. The monotypic genus Labiothrips Bhatti & Mound is synonymised with Scirtothrips Shull, and the New Zealand species S. pan Palmer & Mound is removed from the Australian list as a misidentification. The species recognised are: S. akakia sp.n., S. albomaculatus Bianchi, S. astibos, sp.n., S. aurantii Faure, S. australiae Hood (=auricorpus Girault, syn.n.), S. casuarinae Palmer & Mound, S. dobroskyi Moulton, S. dorsalis Hood, S. drepanofortis sp. n., S. eremicus sp.n., S. frondis sp.n., S. helenae Palmer & Mound, S. inermis Priesner, S. kirrhos sp.n., S. litotes sp.n., S. longipennis (Bagnall), S. moneres sp.n., S. pilbara sp.n., S. quadriseta sp.n., S. solus sp.n., and S. tenor (Bhatti & Mound).
References
Bagnall, R.S. (1909) On the Thysanoptera of the Botanical Gardens, Brussels. Annals de la Société entomologique de Belge, 53, 171-176.
Bailey, S. (1964) A revision of the genius Scirtothrips Shull (Thysanoptera: Thripidae). Hilgardia, 35, 329-362.
Bhatti, J.S. & Mound, L.A. (1994) A new genus of Terebrantian Thysanoptera from New Guinea, related to Foliothrips and Cestrothrips (Thripidae). Zoology (Journal of Pure and Applied Zoology), 4, 161-176.
Bianchi, F. (1945) Introduction to the Thysanoptera of New Caledonia. Proceedings of the Hawaiian Entomological Society, 12, 249-278.
Bournier, J.-P. & Mound, L.A. (2000) Inventaire commenté des Thysanoptères de Nouvelle- Calédonie. Bulletin de la Societe Entomologique de France, 105, 231-240.
Crespi, B.J., Morris, D.C. & Mound, L.A. [in press] The Evolution of Ecological and Behavioral Diversity in Phytophagous Insects: Australian Acacia Thrips as Model Organisms.
Faure, J.C. (1929) The South African citrus thrips and five other new species of Scirtothrips Shull. Transvaal University College Bulletin (Pretoria), 18, 1-18.
Girault, A.A. (1927) Some New Wild Animals from Queensland. Published privately, 3 pp.
Johansen, R.M. & Mojica-Guzman, A. (1999) The genus Scirtothrips Shull, 1909 (Thysanoptera: Thripidae, Sericothripini), in Mexico. Folia Entomologica Mexicana, 104, 23-108.
Hoddle, M.S., Nakahara, S. & Phillips, P.A. (2002) Foreign exploration for Scirtothrips perseae Nakahara (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) and associated natural enemies on avocado (Persea americana Miller). Biological Control, 24, 251-265.
Hoddle, M.S., Jetter, K.M. and Morse, J.G. (2003). The economic impact of Scirtothrips perseae Nakahara (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) on California avocado production. Crop Protection, 22, 485-493.
Hood, J.D. (1918) Two new genera and thirteen new species of Australian Thysanoptera. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 32, 75-92.
Hood, J.D. (1919) On some new Thysanoptera from southern India. Insecutor inscitiae menstruus, 7, 90-103.
Moritz, G., Morris, D.C. & Mound, L.A. (2001) ThripsID – Pest thrips of the world. An interactive identification and information system. Cd-rom published for ACIAR by CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.
Moulton, D. (1936) Thysanoptera of the Philippine Islands. Philippine Journal of Agriculture, 7, 263-273.
Mound, L.A. (1998) Thysanoptera from Lord Howe Island. Australian Entomologist, 25, 113-120.
Mound, L.A. & Gillespie, P.S. (1997) Identification Guide to Thrips Associated with Crops in Australia. NSW Agriculture, Orange & CSIRO Entomology, Canberra, 56 pp.
Mound, L.A. & Houston, K.J. (1987) An annotated check-list of Thysanoptera from Australia. Occasional Papers on Systematic Entomology, 4, 1-28.
Mound, L.A. & Palmer, J.M. (1981) Identification, distribution and host-plants of the pest species of Scirtothrips (Thysanoptera: Thripidae). Bulletin of Entomological Research, 71, 467-479.
Mound, L.A. & zur Strassen, R. (2001) The genus Scirtothrips (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) in Mexico: a critique of the review by Johansen & Mojica-Guzmán (1998). Folia Entomologica Mexicana, 40, 133-142.
Mound, L.A. & Wang, Chin-ling. (2000) The genus Anascirtothrips (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), from leaves of Ficus trees in India, Taiwan and Australia. Chinese Journal of Entomology, 20, 327-333.
Palmer, J.M. & Mound, L.A. (1983) The Scirtothrips species of Australia and New Zealand (Thysanoptera: Thripidae). Journal of Natural History, 17, 507-518.
Priesner, H. (1933) E. Titschack's Thysanopterenausbeute von den Canarischen Inseln. Stettiner entomologischer Zeitung, 94, 177-211.
Shull, A.F. (1909) Some apparently new Thysanoptera from Michigan. Entomological News, 20, 220-228.