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.
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.
Franklinothrips is a genus of thrips with pantropical distribution.
Scirtothrips dorsalis, the chilli thrips or yellow tea thrips, 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.
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 paraphyletic; further work will be needed to clarify the relationships within the group.
Thrips is a genus of insect in the order Thysanoptera.
Haplothrips is a genus of thrips in the family Phlaeothripidae. It is found worldwide and contains about 240 extant species.
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.
Ctenothrips is a genus of thrips in the family Thripidae. There are about 10 described species in Ctenothrips.
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.
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.
Merothripidae is a family of thrips in the order Thysanoptera. There are at least 4 genera and 20 described species in Merothripidae.
Heterothripidae is a family of thrips in the order Thysanoptera. There are about 6 genera and at least 70 described species in Heterothripidae.
Bactrothrips is a genus of thrips in the family Phlaeothripidae, first described by Heinrich Hugo Karny in 1912. In 2011, Mound and Tree synonymised the genus, Lasiothrips, with Bactrothrips
Jindřich Uzel Germanized as Heinrich Uzel was a Czech naturalist, entomologist and plant pathologist. For his pioneering monograph on the thrips, he has been called the father of Thysanoptera studies. The genus Uzelothrips in the family Uzelothripidae is named in his honour.
Stenurothripidae is a family of thrips belonging to the suborder Terebrantia in the order Thysanoptera. The oldest genera of this group are known from the Early Cretaceous Lebanese and Spanish San Just amber.
Melanthripidae is a family of thrips belonging to the order Thysanoptera. Members of the family, covered with gymnosperm pollen, were found in Cretaceous Spanish amber about 110-105 million years old. They are believed to have been pollinators of the Ginkgoales.
Hispanothrips is an extinct genus of thrips in the family Stenurothripidae.
