ABSTRACT
Only fragmentary information is available on the members of Thaumastocoridae Kirkaldy family of fewer than two dozen species. All were described from widely scattered places south of the Tropic of Cancer; only one has been introduced and established north of that line: A Cuban species, Xylastodoris luteolus Barber, known from Florida where it occurs on another Cuban introduction, the Royal Palm, Roystonea regia Humboldt, Bon-plan, and Kunth. Apparently their populations build slowly because only the older palm trees have high numbers of individuals, a fact that can be attributed, at least in part, to females producing only one or two eggs per day. This association with palms seems to be a feature of the subfamily Xylastodoridinae; members of the subfamily Thaumasto-corinae “appear to have a more diverse range of host plants,” according to the observations of Slater. The fundamental taxonomic papers for study in this group are those by Drake and Slater.
