The first edition (1998) of this interactive identification and information system provided AQIS staff with ready access to data on 50 species of thrips. In this second edition the total number of species is increased to 80. Moreover, each of these species is now independently illustrated. The species included are not only those species that seem most likely, on past experience, to be taken on plant material imported into Australia, but also a number of other species that are commonly associated with crops in other parts of the world. Despite this, it must be remembered that such an identification system deals with only a small percentage of the total world fauna of 5000 thrips species, and thus has very definite limitations. There is a high diversity in the thrips faunas in neighbouring areas of south east Asia and the Pacific, a very large number of species in South America, and a largely unknown thrips fauna in Africa. Thus, no identification system such as this should be expected to deal with all potential immigrant species. Expanding patterns of trading, including holiday travel, and particularly with Asian and Pacific countries, will undoubtedly bring new thrips species to Australia, some of which will be potential pests. Users of this identification system are advised that, if an intercepted and unknown thrips fails to match the descriptive text and photographs given here, then it is essential that the unknown should be compared with specimens from a good reference collection such as that at CSIRO Entomology, Canberra.
