Thrips of Australia
Endemicity in the Australian thrips fauna
The faunal relationships of Australian Thysanoptera are considered in Austin et al. (2004) and Mound (2004b), and a large number of genera and species are clearly endemic. Some distributions are particularly interesting. In the Melanthripidae, Dorythrips includes two species in Western Australia but three in Argentina and one in Chile, and Cranothrips includes one species from South Africa and a series of species across Australia (Pereyra & Mound, 2009). Similarly, the Phlaeothripidae genus Jacotia comprises one species in South Africa and several in Australia (Mound, 1995). Of the 23 genera of Aeolothripidae worldwide, five are known only from Australia. In the Thripidae, the genera Odontothripiella and Pseudanaphothrips represent endemic Australian radiations, as do some genera related to Anaphothrips (Mound & Masumoto, 2009). Similarly, the grass-associated genera Aliceathrips and Masamithrips (Mound, 2011b) are known only from Australia. The Phlaeothripidae include a particularly high proportion of genera that are endemic and dependent on particular Australian plants, including species of Acacia, Casuarina and Geijera (Crespi et al., 2004; Mound et al., 1998; Mound, 1971b). However, genera of fungus feeding Phlaeothripidae species are generally not endemic, but show close relationships to the faunas of Southeast Asia and the Pacific islands, with a few taxa in Southern Australia showing relationships to New Zealand (Mound, 2006).
References
Austin AD, Yeates DK, Cassis G, Fletcher MJ, La Salle J, Lawrence JF,McQuillan PB, Mound LA, Bickel DJ, Gullan PJ, Hales DF & Taylor GS (2004) Insects ‘Down Under’ — Diversity, endemism and evolution of the Australianinsect fauna: examples from select orders. Journal of the Australian Entomological Society 43: 216 – 234.
Crespi BJ, Morris DC & Mound LA (2004) Evolution of Ecological and Behavioural Diversity: Australian Acacia Thrips as Model Organisms. Canberra: Australian Biological Resources Study & CSIRO Entomology 328 pp.
Mound LA (1971b) The complex of Thysanoptera in rolled leaf galls on Geijera. Journal of the Australian Entomological Society 10: 83 – 97.
Mound LA (1995) Jacotia Faure (Phlaeothripidae); a second genus of Thysanoptera with disjunct distribution between Australia and South Africa. Journal of the Australian Entomological Society 34: 90 – 94.
Mound LA (2004b) Australian Thysanoptera — biological diversity and a diversity of studies. Australian Journal of Entomology 43: 248 – 257.
Mound LA (2006) Vicariance or dispersal — trans-Tasman faunal relationships among Thysanoptera (Insecta), with a second species of Lomatothrips from Podocarpus. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania 140: 11 – 15.
Mound LA (2011b) Grass-dependent Thysanoptera of the family Thripidae from Australia. Zootaxa 3064: 1 – 40. http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2011/f/zt03064p040.pdf
Mound LA, Crespi BJ & Tucker A (1998) Polymorphism and kleptoparasitism in thrips (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae) from woody galls on Casuarina trees. Australian Journal of Entomology 37: 8 – 16.
Mound LA & Masumoto M (2009) Australian Thripinae of the Anaphothrips genus-group (Thysanoptera), with three new genera and thirty-three new species. Zootaxa 2042: 1 – 76.
Pereyra V & Mound LA (2009) Phylogenetic relationships within the genus Cranothrips (Thysanoptera, Melanthripidae) with consideration of host associations and disjunct distributions within the family. Systematic Entomology 34: 151 – 161.