ABSTRACT
Laurence A. Mound Scientific Associate, Entomology Department, Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD; CSIRO Entomology, GPO Box 1700 Canberra, ACT, Australia Laurence.Mound@csiro.au
Introduction
Many species of Thysanoptera have adults so varied in structure that large and small individuals may not be recognisable as being the same species without collateral biological information. Failure to recognise this intraspecific diversity has resulted in many species being given different names, sometimes in different genera. Some of the many structures involved are illustrated by Ananthakrishnan (1969,1971), together with the variety of taxa within this insect order that show extraordinary phenotypic plasticity. But although variation is often mentioned in the taxonomic literature, there are few studies on its biological significance, and almost none on the causative agencies. Variation within thrips species thus remains largely the domain of descriptive taxonomists. Its biological significance, and the considerable evolutionary and systematic implications arising from it, merit extensive further study.
