Abstract
Collections of the predominantly wingless urothripine Thysanoptera from leaf
litter in Australia show little variation in external morphology within any one population,
although the variation between populations is frequently very considerable. Morphological
segregates in which winged individuals are known show little variation between
populations, and these segregates can be regarded as distinct species. However,
morphological segregates in which winged individuals are not known exist in the field
as a complex of similar but distinctive local forms. Taxonomy is concerned with the
interpretation in biological terms of morphological difference, but the significance of
these distinctive populations cannot be determined at present, whether they are species,
subspecies, or local variants. However, this high rate of incipient speciation of the
Urothripini is evidently related, at least in part, to the low degree of dispersive activity
of the wingless forms. The resulting complicated pattern of variation at the species level
is reflected in the unsatisfactory generic classification, and several of the characters which
have been used for distinguishing genera are here shown to be of little value. As a result
four genera, Bournieria, Ramachandraiella, Transithrips, and Verrucothrips, are here
placed in synonymy with Baenothrips, and a key is provided to the remaining 13 genera
of Urothripini from the world. An account is given of the eight species in five genera
known from Australia, including two new species: Baenothrips caenosus (Stannard),
comb. nov. ; Baenothrips moundi (Stannard), comb. nov. ; Biconothrips reedi Stannard;
Habrothrips curiosus Ananthakrishnan; Octurothrips pulcher Priesner; Stephanothrips
occidentalis Hood & Williams; S. barretti, sp, nov.; S. ferrari, sp. nov. In addition,
knechteli Priesner is transferred to Amphibolothrips, comb. nov., and erythrinus Pelikan
is transferred to Baenothrips, comb. nov.
Subject
Animal Science and Zoology,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Cited by
38 articles.
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