Thripidae genera from China

Thysanoptera classification

Worldwide, about 6280 species of Thysanoptera are recognized in about 780 genera (ThripsWiki 2020). Two sub-orders are accepted, the Terebrantia and the Tubulifera, with eight families in the Terebrantia but only one, the Phlaeothripidae, in the Tubulifera. The monophyly of the sub-orders, and most of the Families, is supported by molecular sequence analysis (Buckman et al., 2013). In contrast, Bhatti (1994, 2006) has divided the Thysanoptera into two separate Orders and recognized about 40 families. A summary of the various available family-level classifications is presented in Mound (2013).

Two of the nine families comprise most of the Thysanoptera species. The Phlaeothripidae includes about 3600 species in 450 genera worldwide, and our understanding of the fauna in China is particularly weak (Dang et al. 2014). In contrast, the Thripidae includes worldwide slightly less than 2200 species in 290 genera, and currently about 30% of these genera are known from China. As indicated in the main text pages of this identification system, four sub-families are currently accepted within the Thripidae, and all four are known from China.