There are 24 genera and more than 202 species worldwide in this family, of which 4 genera and 8 species are recorded from Brazil. More than 50% of the described Aeolothripidae species are flower-living and occur in the temperate parts of the world. These species are placed either in the Holarctic genus Aeolothrips or in the Australian genus Desmothrips. Although flower-living, and presumably feeding on floral tissues including pollen, these species are also facultative predators of small arthropods. In contrast, more than half of the Aeolothripidae genera are restricted to tropical countries where the species appear to be obligate predators, some living high in the tree canopy but others at ground level.

 

The majority of the Aeolothripidae species in Brazil are probably obligate predators. The species of Stomatothrips live at ground level (particularly on grasses) and in structure and behaviour are evidently ant-mimics. Franklinothrips species are also ant-mimics but live on vegetation and often in the canopy of trees. Some Franklinothrips species (F. orizabensis and F. vespiformis) have been employed as biocontrol agents against thrips and mite pests in European greenhouses. Ambaeolothrips pampeanus and Erythrothrips species are only rarely collected and nothing is known of their biology, but they are possibly phytophagous.

 

All Aeolothripidae have nine antennal segments, and the sensoria on III and IV linear, although sometimes curving around the segment apex, and more rarely convoluted. The head bears a cephalic tentorium with well-developed transverse bridge. The fore wings are broad with well-developed cross-veins, often with transverse or longitudinal dark bands. Males lack pore plates and females have a well-developed, upturned ovipositor. 

 

Click here to see the species recorded from Brazil.

Click here to identify the species recorded from Brazil.

 

References suggested:

Mound LA & Marullo R (1993) The Erythrothrips complex of tropical Aeolothripidae (Thysanoptera) with a new Australian genus and a new South African species. Entomologica Scandinavica 24: 285–291.

Mound LA & Marullo R (1996) The Thrips of Central and South America: An Introduction. Memoirs on Entomology, International 6: 1–488.

Mound LA & Reynaud P (2005) Franklinothrips; a pantropical Thysanoptera genus of ant-mimicking obligate predators (Aeolothripidae). Zootaxa 864: 1–16.

Mound LA, Cavalleri A, O’Donnell CH, Infante F, Ortiz A & Goldarazena A (2016) Ambaeolothrips: a new genus of Neotropical Aeolothripidae (Thysanoptera), with observations on the type-species from mango trees in Mexico. Zootaxa 4132: 413–421.

Published in: 09/09/2017
Posted by: Adriano

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