Bhattithrips frontalis (Bagnall)

Mound, Laurence A., 2009, New taxa and new records of Australian Panchaetothripinae (Thysanoptera, Thripidae), Zootaxa 2292, pp. 25-33 : 31

Bhattithrips frontalis (Bagnall)

Described on a single female collected near Melbourne, Victoria, this species has since been collected widely in eastern Australia northwards to Brisbane. It has only ever been found in low numbers, with no precise host association, and most of the available specimens come from south eastern Queensland, between Lamington National Park, Brisbane Forest Park, and Lake Broadwater near Dalby. The available males have welldeveloped forewings, but the length of these wings is no more than 70% of the length that would be considered fully macropterous. The redescription by Mound (1970) indicated that forewing length was also variable among females. The males have very small pore plates of unusual appearance that appear to over lie the antecostal ridge on sternites IV (or V) to VIII. The dorsal setae on tergite IX of males are small, but the lateral pair is long and extends beyond the abdomen apex.