Abstract
Two widely different classifications of the insect order Thysanoptera are discussed; an essentially phylogenetic system recognizing nine families in two suborders, and an essentially phenetic system recognizing 40 families in two orders. This paper emphasizes the distinction between “classification” and “systematics”, the former stressing the importance of differences, whereas the latter stresses the importance of derived similarities. A phylogenetic (i.e. systematic) classification incorporates predictions concerning evolutionary relationships that are important throughout biological studies, whether in host and parasite associations, biogeography, comparative physiology or development. The available phenetic classification of Thysanoptera serves no such broader purpose in biology. Recent molecular data derived from the gene 18S rDNA are analysed, but although some groups of taxa are well resolved, the deep relationships within the Thysanoptera remain unclear.
References
Bhatti, J.S. (1988). The orders Terebrantia and Tubulifera of the superorder Thysanoptera (Insecta). A Critical Appraisal. Zoology (Journal of Pure and Applied Zoology), 1, 167–240.
Bhatti, J.S. (1992) The Order Tubulifera (Insecta): Its characters and classification into families. Zoology (Journal of Pure and Applied Zoology), 3, 127–162.
Bhatti J.S. (1994) Phylogenetic relationships among Thysanoptera (Insecta) with particular reference to the families of the Order Tubulifera. Zoology (Journal of Pure and Applied Zoology), 4 (1993), 93–130.
Bhatti, J.S. (1998) New structural features in the Order Tubulifera (Insecta). 1. Amalgamation of labro-maxillary complex with cranium and other cephalic structures. Zoology (Journal of Pure and Applied Zoology), 5, 147–176.
Bhatti, J.S. (2006) The classification of Terebrantia (Insecta) into families. Oriental Insects, 40, 339–375.
Cavalleri, A & Kaminski, L.A. (2007) A new Holopothrips species (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae) damaging Mollinedia (Monimiaceae) leaves in Southern Brazil. Zootaxa, 1625, 61–68.
Crespi, B.J. (1988) Adaptation, compromise and constraint: the development, morphometrics and behavioral basis of a fighter-flier polymorphism in male Hoplothrips karnyi. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 23, 93–104.
Crespi, B.J., Carmean, D., Vawter L. & Dohlen C. (1996) The molecular systematics of Thysanoptera. Systematic Entomology, 21, 79–87.
Crespi B.J., Morris, D.C. & Mound, L.A. (2004) Evolution of ecological and behavioural diversity: Australian Acacia thrips as model organisms. Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra & Australian National Insect Collection, Canberra. 328pp
Ellington, C.P. (1980) Wing mechanics and take-off preparation of Thrips (Thysanoptera). Journal of Experimental Biology 85, 129–136.
Franz, N.M. (2005) On the lack of good scientific reasons for the growing phylogeny/classification gap. Cladistics, 21, 495–500.
Gauld, I.D. & Mound, LA. (1982) Homoplasy and the delineation of holophyletic genera in some insect groups. Systematic Entomology, 7, 73–86.
Grimaldi, D. & Engel, M.S. (2005) Evolution of the Insects. Cambridge University Press. 772pp.
Grimaldi, D., Shmakov, A. & Fraser N. (2004) Mesozoic thrips and early evolution of the order Thysanoptera (Insecta). Journal of Palaeontology, 78, 941–952.
Heming, B.S. (2003) Insect Development and Evolution. Cornell University Press, Ithaca. 444pp.
Izzo, R.J., Pinent, S.M.J. & Mound, L.A. (2002) Aulacothrips dictyotus (Heterothripidae), the first ectoparasitic thrips (Thysanoptera). Florida Entomologist, 85, 281–283.
Johansen, R.M. & Mojica-Guzman, A.A. (1996) A review of the Tribe Humboldthripini Johansen (Insecta, Thysanoptera: Thripidae). Folia entomologica Mexicana, 93 [1995], 39–70.
Kjer, K.M. (1997) An alignment template for amphibian 12S rRNA, domain III: Conserved primary and secondary structural motifs. Journal of Herpetology, 31, 599–604.
Kjer, K.M. (2004) Aligned 18S and Insect Phylogeny. Systematic Biology, 53, 506–514.
Marullo, R. & Mound, L.A. (1995) Su una classificazione sopra-generica della famiglia Aeolothripidae (Thysanoptera). Atti del XVII Congresso Nazionale Italiano di Entomologia, Udine: 87–90.
Masumoto, M, & Okajima, S. (2007) The genus Scirtothrips Shull (Insecta, Thysanoptera, Thripidae) and three related genera in Japan. Zootaxa, 1552, 1–33.
Morris, D.C., Schwarz, M.P., Cooper, S.J.B. & Mound, L.A. (2002) Phylogenetics of Australian Acacia thrips: the evolution of behaviour and ecology. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 25, 278–292.
Morris, D.C. & Mound, L.A. (2003) Thysanoptera Phylogeny – the Molecular Future. Entomologische Abhandlungen, 61, 153–155.
Mound, L.A. (1968) A review of R.S. Bagnall's Thysanoptera collections. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). Entomology Supplement, 11, 1–181.
Mound, L.A. (1999) Saltatorial leaf-feeding Thysanoptera (Thripidae, Dendrothripinae) in Australia and New Caledonia, with newly recorded pests of ferns, figs and mulberries. Australian Journal of Entomology, 38, 257–273.
Mound, L.A. (2004) Australian long-tailed gall thrips (Thysanoptera, Phlaeothripinae, Leeuweniini), with comments on related Old World taxa. Australian Journal of Entomology, 43, 36–45
Mound, L.A. (2005) Fighting, flight and fecundity: behavioural determinants of Thysanoptera structural diversity. Pp 81–105 in Ananthakrishnan, T.N. & Whitman, D. [eds] Insects and phenotypic plasticity. Science Publishers Inc. Enfield, NH, USA.
Mound, L.A. (2007a) Thysanoptera (Thrips) of the World – a checklist. http://www.ento.csiro.au/thysanoptera/worldthrips.html
Mound, L.A. (2007b) New Australian spore-feeding Thysanoptera (Phlaeothripidae – Idolothripinae). Zootaxa, 1604, 53–68.
Mound, L.A., Heming, B.S. & Palmer, J.M. (1980) Phylogenetic relationships between the families of recent Thysanoptera. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society of London, 69, 111–141.
Mound, L.A. & Marullo, R. (1996) The Thrips of Central and South America: An Introduction. Memoirs on Entomology, International, 6, 1–488.
Mound, L.A. & Marullo, R. (1999) Two new basal-clade Thysanoptera from California with Old World affinities. Journal of the New York entomological Society, 106, 81–94.
Mound, L.A., Marullo, R. & Trueman, J.W.H. (2001) The greenhouse thrips, Heliothrips haemorrhoidalis, and its generic relationships within the sub-family Panchaetothripinae (Thysanoptera; Thripidae). Journal of Insect Systematics and Evolution, 32, 1–12.
Mound, L.A.& Minaei, K. (2007) Australian insects of the Haplothrips lineage (Thysanoptera – Phlaeothripinae). Journal of Natural History, 41, [in press].
Mound, L.A. & Palmer, J.M. (1983) The generic and tribal classification of spore-feeding Thysanoptera (Phlaeothripidae: Idolothripinae). Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). Entomology, 46, 1–174.
Priesner, H. (1961) Das System der Tubulifera (Thysanoptera). Anzeiger mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche Klasse, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, (1960) 13, 283–296.
Rasnitsyn, A.P. & Quicke, D.L.J. (2002) The History of Insects. Kluwer Academic Publ., Dordrecht, Netherlands. 544pp.
Retana-Salazar, A. (2000) Revisión y filogenia del grupo genérico Pseudothrips (Thysanoptera: Thripidae). Brenesia, 54, 51–62.
Stannard, L.J. (1957) The phylogeny and classification of the North American genera of the sub-order Tubulifera (Thysanoptera). Illinois Biological Monographs, 25, 1–200.
Swofford, D.L. (2002) PAUP*. Phylogenetic Analysis Using Parsimony (*and Other Methods). Version 4. Sunderland, Massachusetts, Sinauer Associates.
Tyagi, K., Kumar, V. & Mound, L.A. (2008) Sexual dimorphism among Thysanoptera Terebrantia, with a new species from Malaysia and remarkable species from India in Aeolothripidae and Thripidae. Insect Systematics and Evolution [in press].
Wang, C.-L. (2007) Hydatothrips and Neohydatothrips (Thysanoptera, Thripidae) of East and South Asia with three new species from Taiwan. Zootaxa, 1575, 47–68.
Zherikhin, V.V. (2002) Order Thripida Fallen, pp 133–143 in Rasnitsyn, A.P. & Quicke, D.L.J. [eds] History of Insects. Kluwer Academic Publishers, London