The aquatic thrips Organothrips indicus Bhatti (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) in Queensland, and a new species, O. wrighti, from tropical Australia

Abstract

AbstractThe genus Organothrips includes the only fully aquatic thrips, the two previously known species breeding under water in the surface mucous of several unrelated monocotyledonous plants. Organothrips indicus Bhatti is recorded in Australia for the first time, breeding on water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) in a greenhouse near Brisbane. Structural variation within this population is discussed, and character states considered for distinguishing this species from the Pacific taro thrips, O. bianchii Hood. A new species, Organothrips wrighti, is described from Melville Island, Northern Territory and from Cape Tribulation, Queensland. This species has fully macropterous males and is probably not aquatic. The studies on Eichhornia also gave rise to two new distribution records; Salpingothrips aimotofus Kudo is newly recorded from Australia, and the Northern Hemisphere pest thripid Echinothrips americanus Morgan is newly recorded from Thailand.