| Franklinothrips | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Adult F. vespiformis . | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Thysanoptera |
| Family: | Aeolothripidae |
| Genus: | Franklinothrips Back, 1912 |
| Type species | |
| Aeolothrips vespiformis Crawford, 1909 | |
| Synonyms | |
MitothripsTrybom, 1912 Contents | |
Franklinothrips is a genus of thrips with pantropical distribution.
The genus name is derived from the surname of entomologist H. J. Franklin, who described thrips taxa in the early 1900s. The thrips genus Frankliniella is also named after him. Franklin worked at the entomology department of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the 1930s.
Most species are apparently bisexual (have both males and females) and occur only in small areas. An exception is F. vespiformis, which is unisexual (mostly females) and occurs in many tropical countries. Only few males were produced during rearing programmes involving F. vespiformis.
The fast-running females are easily misidentified as ants or bethylid wasps (superfamily Chrysidoidea), as they closely mimic ants in behavior and body form. Males are less ant-like in appearance, being smaller, with longer antennae and a less constricted waist. [1]
F. orizabensis is known to be unable to survive solely on plant food. It is used as a control agent against thrips on avocado trees. Together with F. vespiformis it has been marketed in Europe as a control agent against thrips in greenhouses. F. vespiformis also feeds on mites, nymphs of a whitefly species and the larvae of an agromyzid fly. F. megalops has been used for thrips control in "internal landscapes".
The three neotropical species F. orizabensis, F. tenuicornis and F. vespiformis are closely related.
The species F. megalops, F. rarosae and F. variegatus appear to part of a cline across the Old World tropics from Africa to Australia, with F. rarosae being intermediate in appearance as well as distribution.
The only genus closely related to Franklinothrips is Corynothripoides from Africa, and its only species, C. marginipennis, could even belong to the same genus.
F. caballeroi and F. suzukii are possibly the same species, with one having been distributed through horticultural trade.
Thrips are minute, slender insects with fringed wings and unique asymmetrical mouthparts. Entomologists have described approximately 7,700 species. They fly only weakly and their feathery wings are unsuitable for conventional flight; instead, thrips exploit an unusual mechanism, clap and fling, to create lift using an unsteady circulation pattern with transient vortices near the wings.
Ant mimicry or myrmecomorphy is mimicry of ants by other organisms. Ants are abundant all over the world, and potential predators that rely on vision to identify their prey, such as birds and wasps, normally avoid them, because they are either unpalatable or aggressive. Some arthropods mimic ants to escape predation, while some predators of ants, especially spiders, mimic them anatomically and behaviourally in aggressive mimicry. Ant mimicry has existed almost as long as ants themselves; the earliest ant mimics in the fossil record appear in the mid Cretaceous alongside the earliest ants.
The Thripidae are the most speciose family of thrips, 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.
The Aeolothripidae are a family of thrips. They are particularly common in the holarctic region, although several occur in the drier parts of the subtropics, including dozens in Australia. Adults and larvae are usually found in flowers, but they pupate on the ground. While they normally prey on other arthropods, many feed also on flowers.
The chilli thrips or yellow tea thrips, Scirtothrips dorsalis Hood, is an extremely successful invasive species of pest-thrips which has expanded rapidly from Asia over the last twenty years, and is gradually achieving a global distribution. It has most recently been reported in St. Vincent (2004) Florida (2005), Texas (2006), and Puerto Rico (2007). It is a pest of economic significance with a broad host range, with prominent pest reports on crops including pepper, eggplant, mango, citrus, strawberry, grapes, cotton, tea, peanuts, blueberry, and roses. Chilli thrips appear to feed preferentially on new growth, and infested plants usually develop characteristic wrinkled leaves, with distinctive brown scarring along the veins of leaves, the buds of flowers, and the calyx of fruit. Feeding damage can reduce the sale value of crops produced, and in sufficient numbers, kill plants already aggravated by environmental stress. This thrips has also been implicated in the transmission of three tospoviruses, but there is some controversy over its efficiency as a vector.
Thrips is a genus of insect in the order Thysanoptera.
Scirtothrips is a genus of thrips in the family Thripidae.
Uzelothrips is a genus of thrips, and the only genus in the family Uzelothripidae. Up until 2012 it contained a single species, U. scabrosus, known from Belém, Brazil; Brisbane, Australia; Singapore, and Angola. In 2012 a new extinct species, U. eocenicus, was described from the lowermost Eocene of France by Patricia Nel and André Nel in 2012. The species name refers to the age it existed in. The group name is in honour of Jindřich Uzel, a Czech entomologist who published the first monograph on the thrips. The family is identified by the whip-like tip to the antenna.
Haplothrips is a genus of thrips in the family Phlaeothripidae. It is found worldwide and contains about 240 extant species.
Elaphrothrips is a genus of tube-tailed thrips in the family Phlaeothripidae. There are at least 40 described species in Elaphrothrips.
Neurothrips is a genus of tube-tailed thrips in the family Phlaeothripidae. There are about six described species in Neurothrips.
Heliothrips is a genus of thrips in the family Thripidae. There are about 18 described species in Heliothrips.
Panchaetothripinae is a subfamily of thrips in the family Thripidae, first described in 1912 by Richard Siddoway Bagnall. There are about 11 genera and more than 50 described species in Panchaetothripinae.
Erythrothrips is a genus of predatory thrips in the family Aeolothripidae. There are about 11 described species in Erythrothrips.
Echinothrips is a genus of thrips in the family Thripidae. There are about seven described species in Echinothrips.
Aeolothrips is a genus of predatory thrips in the family Aeolothripidae. There are more than 80 described species in Aeolothrips.
Torvothrips is a genus of tube-tailed thrips in the family Phlaeothripidae. There are at least two described species in Torvothrips.
Merothrips is a genus of thrips in the family Merothripidae. There are about 19 described species in Merothrips.
Franklinothrips vespiformis, the vespiform thrips, is a species of predatory thrip in the family Aeolothripidae. It is found in the Caribbean, Central America, North America, Oceania, South America, Southern Asia, and Europe.
Heterothripidae is a family of thrips in the order Thysanoptera. There are about 6 genera and at least 70 described species in Heterothripidae.
