New Zealand thrips fauna

From New Zealand, only four of the nine Families of extant species are known that are recognized worldwide in the insect Order Thysanoptera, and only five of the six recognized subfamilies (ThripsWiki 2017).

The absence of any species of Thripidae-Dendrothripinae is particularly interesting, because this subfamily of leaf-living species is well represented on Lord Howe Island and New Caledonia as well as Australia.

The number of species recorded from New Zealand in the major thrips groups are:

Families and subfamilies	Number of species
Merothripidae	2
Aeolothripidae	3
Thripidae-Panchaetothripinae	5
Thripidae-Sericothripinae	2
Thripidae-Thripinae	47
Phlaeothripidae-Idolothripinae	25
Phlaeothripidae-Phlaeothripinae	43

A further 14 species in the identification presented system here are included because, based on trading patterns with surrounding countries, they are considered potential invaders of New Zealand. These 14 species are marked “NOT established”.