Generic diagnosis

Small, light brown, usually micropterous Phlaeothripinae in woody galls on Casuarina species. Head slightly wider than long; postocular setae short (long in macropterae); maxillary stylets retracted almost to postocular setae, less than one-third of head width apart. Antennae 8-segmented; segments short and wide, III without sense cones, IV with 2 sense cones. Pronotum transverse, with 5 pairs of major setae, these long and slender in macropterae. Prosternal basantra absent; ferna irregular; mesopresternum reduced to lateral triangles that are often fused to mesoeusternal margin; metathoracic sternopleural sutures present but irregular. Metanotum weakly reticulate, with several pairs of small setae medially. Fore tarsal tooth prominent in both sexes; fore tibia with or without tubercle on inner apex. Fore wing broad, without duplicated cilia. Pelta bell-shaped in macropterae, eroded to small sclerite in micropterae; tergites II–VII each with one pair of wing-retaining setae; tergal lateral setae long and slender; tube very short, much shorter than head. Male without sternal pore plate; phallotheca slender and unusually long, 5 times as long as basal width in micropterae but 10 times as long as basal width in macropterae.

Nomenclatural data

Iotatubothrips Mound & Crespi, 1992: 400. Type species Iotatubothrips crozieri Mound & Crespi, 1992, by monotypy.

Only two species are described in this genus, although a third species has been seen in southeastern Queensland.

Australian species
Iotatubothrips crozieri Mound & Crespi, 1992: 401
Iotatubothrips kranzae Mound, Crespi & Tucker, 1998: 11

Relationship data

This is one of a group of three genera known only from woody galls on Casuarina species, the other two being Phallothrips and Thaumatothrips in both of which the species are kleptoparasites of Iotatubothrips species. However, Iotatubothrips is probably more closely related to certain species of Adrothrips, at least one of which is known to breed in a woody gall on Allocasuarina.

Distribution data

The two described species are from semi-arid areas in either Eastern or Northwestern Australia, but a further undescribed species has been seen from the dry eastern slopes of Mt Glorious, near Brisbane.

Biological data

The species induce, and breed within, woody stem galls on slender branches of Casuarina cristata and C. obesa (Crespi 1992; Mound et al. 1998). The phallotheca of macropterous males of I. kranzae is almost twice as long as that of the micropterous males.

References

Crespi BJ (1992) Behavioral ecology of Australian gall thrips (Insecta, Thysanoptera). Journal of Natural History 26: 769–809.

Mound LA & Crespi BJ (1992) The complex of phlaeothripine thrips (Insecta, Thysanoptera) in woody stem galls of Casuarina in Australia. Journal of Natural History 26: 395–406.

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.