Phlaeothripidae

Mound, Laurence A., Dang, Li-Hong & Tree, Desley J., 2013, Genera of fungivorous Phlaeothripinae (Thysanoptera) from dead branches and leaf-litter in Australia, Zootaxa 3681 (3), pp. 201-224 : 202

Systematics of Phlaeothripidae

Two subfamilies are recognised within the Phlaeothripidae , and a morphology-based classification of the smaller subfamily, Idolothripinae , was provided by Mound & Palmer (1983). Worldwide, that group comprises 720 species in about 85 genera, and these thrips are presumed all to feed by ingesting fungal spores. In contrast, systematic relationships among the 2800 species in 375 genera of Phlaeothripinae remain largely unrecognised. A system of classification proposed by Priesner (1961) is clearly not phylogenetic, and the three “lineages” proposed by Mound and Marullo (1996), derived largely from Stannard (1957), are not clearly defined. One of these three is now recognised as the tribe Haplothripini, and comprises species in which the fore wing is constricted medially, the prosternal basantral sclerites are present, and a maxillary bridge is present in the head ( Mound & Minaei 2007). The “ Liothrips -lineage” of leaf-feeding species is also reasonably well delimited, the species having parallel-sided fore wings, no prosternal basantra, and antennal segments III and IV with one and three sensoria respectively. In contrast, the fungus-feeding species that comprise the “ Phlaeothrips -lineage” are highly diverse, many species exhibit complex structural polymorphisms, and phylogenetic relationships amongst the genera will require extensive further study ( Buckman et al. 2013).