The Thripidae are the most speciose family of
thrips
Thrips (Order (biology) , order Thysanoptera) are minute (mostly long or less), slender insects with fringed wings and unique asymmetrical mouthparts. Entomologists have species description , described approximately 7,700 species. They fly on ...
, with over 290 genera representing just over two thousand species. They can be distinguished from other thrips by a saw-like
ovipositor 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 botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...
, the
Thripinae.
Systematics
Many of the divisions within the Thripidae are not based on common ancestry, but are instead based on common environment and morphological
homoplasy, 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
Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...
; 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)
*
Thripinae (227 genera)
References
Further reading
* Hoddle, M.S. & Mound, L.A. (2003). The genus ''Scirtothrips'' in Australia (Insecta, Thysanoptera, Thripidae). ''Zootaxa'' 268:1-40
PDF
External links
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*
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
{{Authority control
Insect families
Insect vectors of plant pathogens
Taxa named by James Francis Stephens