The Thripidae are the most speciose family of

thrips Thrips ( order Thysanoptera) are minute (mostly long or less), slender insects with fringed wings and unique asymmetrical mouthparts. Different thrips species feed mostly on plants by puncturing and sucking up the contents, although a few are ...

, with over 290 genera representing just over two thousand species. They can be distinguished from other thrips by a saw-like

ovipositor The ovipositor is a tube-like organ used by some animals, especially insects, for the laying of eggs. In insects, an ovipositor consists of a maximum of three pairs of appendages. The details and morphology of the ovipositor vary, but typical ...

curving downwards, narrow wings with two veins, and antennae of six to ten antennomeres with stiletto-like forked sense cones on antennal segments III and IV. They are considered to be among the more derived of thrips, having evolved many traits key to specializing as cryptophilous phytovores, living in the narrow spaces at the bases of leaves and within flowers. Several species are economically significant pests, some of them invasive. Almost all of them are typical thrips which belong in the largest

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...

, the

Thripinae The Thripinae are a subfamily of thrips, insects of the order Thysanoptera. The Thripinae belong to the common thrips family Thripidae and include around 1,400 species in 150 genera. A 2012 molecular phylogeny found that the Thripinae was p ...

Systematics

Many of the divisions within the Thripidae are not based on common ancestry, but are instead based on common environment and morphological

homoplasy Homoplasy, in biology and phylogenetics, is the term used to describe a Phenotypic trait, feature that has been gained or lost independently in separate lineages over the course of evolution. This is different from Homology (biology), homology, w ...

, and these distinctions tend to be irrelevant to true phylogenetic relationships. As a result, many species of the Thripidae have undergone recent drastic taxonomic revision, splitting and promoting two tribes, Dendrothripini and Sericothripini, to subfamily status, with the possibility of greater reorganizations to come as modern phylogenetic methods and a more comprehensive morphological analysis provide additional evidence defining evolutionary relationships. This revision is probably necessary, as more than half of the genera in family Thripidae are monobasic, with the majority of monotypic species concentrated in subfamily Thripinae.Mound, L. A. 2005. Thysanoptera: diversity and interactions. Annual Review of Entomology 50: 247 - 269. However, a 2012 molecular phylogeny found that the Thripinae was

paraphyletic In taxonomy (general), taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few Monophyly, monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be pa ...

; further work will be needed to clarify the relationships within the group.

Subfamilies

The Thripidae are thus ordered into four subfamilies: * Dendrothripinae Priesner, 1925 (16 genera) * Panchaetothripinae Bagnall, 1912 (38 genera) * Sericothripinae Karny, 1921 (11 genera) *

(227 genera)

References

External links

* *
Thrips of the World Checklist: Family Thripidae

Chilli Thrips (castor thrips, Assam thrips, yellow tea thrips, strawberry thrips), ''Scirtothrips dorsalis'' Hood, Provisional Management Guidelines
Thrips on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site
schultzei'', common blossom thrips

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1977089 Insect families Insect vectors of plant pathogens Taxa named by James Francis Stephens

Systematics

Subfamilies

References

Further reading

External links