The serious pest species Thrips palmi Karny and Hercinothrips femoralis (Reuter), Thripidae, are newly recorded from Australia. The recorded distributions within Australia of a further 8 thrips are extended, and notes are given on the remarkable variation of Mecynothrips wallacei Bagnall, Phlaeothripidae, in Queensland.

The adult and larva of Sterhorir.s,/enPs/rulis sp. n. are described and S. histrio Chazeau recorded from Australia for the first time. S . lo.utoni Britton and Lee is shown to be a synonym of S. nigripes Kapur. Additional information is given for the adults of S. vaguns (Blackburn), S. nigripes and S. hisrrio, and their larvae are described. Keys are provided to adults and last instar larvae of the Australian species. IntroductionThe large genus Stethorus Weise has a world-wide distribution, but only three species have been described from Australia. Blackburn ( I 892) described S. vagans (in Scymnus Kugelann), Kapur (1948) described S. nigripes and redescribed S . vugans, while Britton and Lee (1972) described S . loxtoni and figured the male genitalia and larvae of all three species. The adults are minute black beetles and both adults and larvae are predators of tetranychid mites.In a study of the morphology of larval coccinellids, a new species of Stethorus was recognised in material collected from coastal Queensland and is described below. In addition, a number of anomalies noticed between S. nigripes Kapur and S. nigripes sensu Britton and Lee, similarities between the latter and S . histrio Chazeau, and similarities between S . nigripes Kapur and S. loxtoni indicated that a revision of the Australian species of Stethorus was warranted.The following abbreviations are used for institutions and collectors: ANlC

Crosses were made between different colour forms of the predacious coccinellid Coelophora inaequalis (F.) from the Brisbane (Queensland) and Sydney-Newcastle (New South Wales) areas, including 2 new forms ('yellow' and 'heavy'). The following alleles were involved in these crosses: 'nine-spotted', 'elongated stripe', 'normal', 'fused' (= 'standard'), 'zig-zag', 'black', 'yellow' and 'heavy'. All possible heterozygotes not previously described were obtained and figured. All the colour patterns produced by these alleles followed the rule of mosaic dominance. There was little difference in the frequencies of the above alleles between populations in Brisbane and Mareeba (northern Queensland), but the composition of the Sydney-Newcastle population was distinctly different. An examination of some major insect collections provided further information on the distribution of these alleles in Queensland and New South Wales.

The common scarabs associated with peanuts in southern Queensland are Heteronyxpiceus Blanchard, H. rugosipennis Macleay, Sericesthis in0 (Blackburn) and S. suturalis (Macleay) in the South Burnett, and Pseudoheteronyx basicollis Lea, H. sp. nr rugosipennis and S. suturalis at Clifton on the Darling Downs. A key to larvae of these species is presented. In the South Burnett, H. piceus is the major pest species, comprising 90% of larval populations under peanuts.

Crosses were made between six forms of Coelophora inaeyualis (F.) from the Brisbane area: ninespotted, elongated stripe, normal, black, five-spoited and broken stripe. It was established that the inheritance of colour patterns in C . inaeyualis is governed by mosaic dominance. These six forms are governed by four alleles with a dominance order of nine-spotted normal black. while the elongated stripe and nine-spotted alleles and the elongated stripe and normal alleles are codominant and produce the five-spotted and broken stripe forms respectively.