Thrips of Australia

Adventive taxa among Australian thrips

Of the species of thrips recorded from Australia, at least 60 are introduced from other countries. These include several common grass-living Thripidae of Europe, Aptinothrips, Chirothrips and Limothrips species, also leaf-feeding tropical species such as those in the genera Chaetanaphothrips, Heliothrips, Hercinothrips, Parthenothrips, Selenothrips and some Scirtothrips and Thrips. Most of these probably have been established in Australia for many years, but more recent introductions are the Western Flower Thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis, and the Lily-bulb Thrips, Liothrips vaneeckei. More difficult to evaluate are Asian species that have been recorded in recent years, such as the Melon Thrips, Thrips palmi, and the Rice Thrips, Stenchaetothrips biformis. Given the continuing lack of knowledge of the thrips fauna of northern Australia, it is not possible to know to what extent the northern coastal areas of this continent are part of the natural distribution of Asian species. Recent studies have demonstrated the presence in northern Australia of several species from across Asia (Mound & Tree, 2011; Zhang et al., 2018), and some species are now well established, including Gynaikothrips ficorum, the leaf-rolling thrips of cultivated Ficus microcarpa trees (Mound et al., 1996; Tree & Walter 2009; Tree et al., 2015), the Oriental Lily-flower Thrips Taeniothrips eucharii (Mound & Tree, 2009), and several Panchaetothripinae including Helionothrips errans that has been found at Perth and at Newcastle on orchid leaves (Mound, 2009).