Terebrantia

Mound, Laurence A. & Wells, Alice, 2023, Endemism among Lord Howe IslandThysanoptera, with new species of Baenothrips (Phlaeothripidae) and Scirtothrips (Thripidae), Zootaxa 5228 (1), pp. 81-91 : 85

Suborder Terebrantia

Eight families are recognised worldwide in this suborder, and five of these are known from Australia ( Mound & Tree 2020). However, representatives of only two of these families have been found on Lord Howe Island, involving a total of 20 terebrantiate species ( Table 1). The family Aeolothripidae is represented on the island by a single predatory species, Desmothrips reedi . This ant-mimicking thrips is widespread in eastern Australia and has been found on Lord Howe Island living at the base of Kikuyu grass ( Cenchrus clandestinus ). The other 19 species are all members of the Thripidae and include species of all four recognised subfamilies. Three species of Panchaetothripinae have been found, of which Helionothrips spinosus is an Australian endemic that is host-specific on Smilax australis , although Heliothrips haemorrhoidalis and Hercinothrips bicinctus are worldwide pest species. The single recorded species of Sericothripinae, Hydatothrips aliceae , is considered an endemic, and is apparently specific to the leaves of Parsonsia howeana that is itself endemic to the island. However, the endemicity of the three recorded species of Dendrothripinae is more doubtful, because all three of them are recorded as breeding on Trophis scandens [ Moraceae ], a plant that is widespread in eastern and northern Australia. Of these three, Dendrothrips howei and Ensiferothrips secundus are not known from anywhere else, although Pseudodendrothrips gillespiei has also been found at Taree on the New South Wales coast. The remaining 12 species are all members of the Thripinae ( Table 1). Five of them are worldwide tramp or pest species, and four that are marked with the symbol ‡ in Table 1 are considered native to Australia. Of the three remaining species, Parabaliothrips newmani , has been found mating and breeding only on the young buds of Ficus macrophylla columnaris , a subspecies that is the native fig tree of Lord Howe Island. Parabaliothrips newmani was described originally from a tree of this subspecies planted in the Botanic Gardens at Sydney, and the thrips has not been found on the nominate subspecies of F. macrophylla that is more common in Sydney and in eastern Australia. This thrips breeds in the terminal leaf-buds of columnaris. It is presumably endemic to Lord Howe Island, but along with its host was transplanted subsequently to the Botanic Gardens on the mainland. The final two Thripinae species are endemic members of the worldwide genus Scirtothrips . These were found on the youngest, unfurling, fronds of Cyathea tree ferns, and these species are here considered in more detail. The four species of Cyathea that are endemic to Lord Howe Island are all widely distributed on the slopes of Mt Gower at various altitudes, and any host specificity by the Scirtothrips amongst these four fern species was not detected.