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.
Phlaeothripidae is a family of thrips with hundreds of genera. They are the only extant family of the suborder Tubulifera, alongside the extinct family Rohrthripidae and are themselves ordered into two subfamilies, the Idolothripinae with 80 genera, and the Phlaeothripinae with almost 400. Some 3,400 species are recognised in this family, and many are fungivores living in the tropics.
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.
Haplothrips is a genus of thrips in the family Phlaeothripidae. It is found worldwide and contains about 240 extant species.
Kladothrips is a genus of Australian gall thrips. It is notable for including some of the few organisms outside of Hymenoptera that exhibit eusociality.
Terebrantia is a suborder of thrips. Order Thysanoptera includes 5,500 species classified into two suborders distinguished by the ovipositor. Terebrantia have a well-developed conical ovipositor, while the Tubulifera do not. It contains 13 families, five of which are only known from fossils. Members of Terebrantia mainly feed on plants. All have two larval instars followed by two pupal instars.
Gynaikothrips is a genus of tube-tailed thrips in the family Phlaeothripidae. There are more than 30 described species in Gynaikothrips.
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.
Advenathrips is a genus of thrips in the family Phlaeothripidae, first described by Morris, Mound and Sdhwarz in 2000.
Akainothrips is a genus of thrips in the family Phlaeothripidae, first described by Laurence Mound in 1971. The type species is Akainothrips citritarsus.
Akthethrips is a genus of thrips in the family Phlaeothripidae, first described by Laurence Mound in 1970. There is just one species in this genus, Akthethrips strobus, which is found in New South Wales and South Australia, living on the foliage of Casuarina glauca, and Casuarina pauper.
Brakothrips is a genus of thrips in the family Phlaeothripidae, first described by Crespi, Morris and Mound in 2004. The type species is Brakothrips gillesi. Insects in this genus are found only in Australia, living under the splitting bark of young branches of Acacias.
Katothrips is a genus of thrips in the family Phlaeothripidae. It was first described by Laurence Alfred Mound in 1971. The type species is Kladothrips tityrus.
Malesiathrips is a genus of thrips in the family Phlaeothripidae. Species of the genus are found in Malaysia, Guam, Solomon Islands and northern Queensland, Australia.
Mecynothrips is a genus of thrips in the family Phlaeothripidae, first described by Richard Siddoway Bagnall in 1908. The type species is Mecynothrips wallaceiBagnall, 1908.
Neocecidothrips is a genus of thrips in the family Phlaeothripidae, first described by Richard Siddoway Bagnall in 1929.
Octurothrips is a genus of thrips in the family Phlaeothripidae, first described by Hermann Priesner in 1931. There is just one species in this genus: Octurothrips pulcher.
Phallothrips is a genus of thrips in the family Phlaeothripidae, and consists of a single species, Phallothrips houstoni. It was first described in 1992 by Laurence Mound and Bernard Crespi.
Xaniothrips is a genus of thrips in the family Phlaeothripidae, which was first described by Laurence Mound in 1971. The type species is Xaniothrips xantes.
Laurence Alfred Mound is an entomologist, who works mostly on the biology and systematics of Thysanoptera (thrips), an area in which he is considered a world authority.
