Species of Apelaunothrips are fungus-feeders on dead leaves, particularly in leaf-litter, and they are recorded across the Old World tropics from Africa to northern Australia and southern Japan. All species in this genus have the maxillary stylets 4-6 microns in diameter, considerably broader than the 2-3 micron diameter that is typical among Phlaeothripinae. The species are largely uniform in structure, but in four species the larger males have fore femora enlarged with a conspicuous tubercle on the inner margin at the base. In one of these species, the males are dimorphic, with no intermediates between large and small individuals, in contrast to the continuous variation in structure found in many polymorphic Phlaeothripidae. A key is provided to the 37 recognised species of Apelaunothrips, including the following: A. desleyae sp.n. from northern Australia; A. bogor sp.n. from Java; A. gombak sp.n. from Peninsular Malaysia.
A key is provided to 13 species of Haplothrips recorded from Malesia, the tropical biogeographic region that extends from Peninsular Malaysia to New Guinea. Three new synonyms are established, and H. aliceae sp.n. is described from Sarawak, Timor-Leste and Thailand. In contrast to recent treatments of Haplothrips, one of the most common members of the genus in Australia, H. angustus Hood is recognised as a syn.n. of H. ganglebaueri Schmutz that is widespread from Iran to Indonesia. Difficulties in distinguishing between three of the most common flower-living, Southeast Asian, species of this genus are discussed: H. anceps Hood from northern Australia, H. chinensis Priesner from Hong Kong, and H. brevitubus (Karny) from Japan.
Although the first issue of Zootaxa appeared in 2001 it was not until two years later, in August 2003, that this aspiring and inspiring new journal issued the first paper on the insect Order Thysanoptera, in Volume 268. Moreover, it was not until February 2005 that the second paper concerning this group appeared in Zootaxa. The subsequent expansion is summarized most succinctly by the number of Thysanoptera papers that appeared in Zootaxa in each of the four five-year periods of these two decades: 5; 40; 92; 134 (see Table 1). The 270 papers concerning this group of insects that appeared in Zootaxa over the 20-year period involved more than 120 authors. These papers were submitted by workers from about 30 different countries, but most of them were from areas of high but previously unexplored species diversity, particularly Australia, Brazil, China, India, Iran, Japan and Malaysia. However, significant contributions were submitted from the far north, including Poland and Russia, as well as the far south, such as Argentina and New Zealand. One reason for the popularity of Zootaxa amongst workers on thrips is presumably the knowledge that this section is edited by two active students of these insects. The editors are pleased to have rejected no more than five papers over these two decades, but they provide much help to authors in shaping manuscripts to ensure that the submitted information is both appropriate, scientifically correct, novel and clearly expressed. Moreover, the journal ensures that manuscripts are published very quickly, usually within four weeks of acceptance by the editors. For the readers a further advantage of Zootaxa is that just over 50% of the published articles on Thysanoptera are freely available on the web, as authors have arranged for Open Access. The thrips publications issued in Zootaxa have included descriptions of 563 new species and 41 new genera of Thysanoptera. These new species represent 9% of the 6300 valid extant species currently listed in this Order, and the new genera represent 5% of the 780 currently recognized genera (ThripsWiki 2021). Many of the publications are only of one or two pages and are issued as Correspondence. Each of these deals with a single new species, or a previously unknown male of a species, or some new and particularly unusual record for a country or host plant. At the opposite extreme are the Monographs that involve revisions of all of the species in a genus, such as the 60 species recognised in the South American genus Holopothrips, or the 30 species known in the worldwide genus Mycterothrips. Others provide illustrated keys to large numbers of genera, such as the 100 genera of Phlaeothripinae that have been recorded from South East Asia. Such extensive studies provide the factual resource on which many of the Articles published in Zootaxa are based. These Articles range from taxonomic revisions of small genera, or of the species found in particular geographic areas, through studies on character state variation and homologies, to historical accounts and catalogues. The very considerable increase in information in recent years about the taxonomic and biological diversity of this group of insects (Mound Hastenpflug-Vesmanis2021) owes much to the existence of the journal Zootaxa.
The Scirtothrips genus-group is here considered to comprise 11 genera, and an identification key to these is presented. These genera are Ajothrips Bhatti, Anascirtothrips Bhatti, Biltothrips Bhatti, Cercyothrips Morgan, Drepanothrips Uzel, Ephedrothrips zur Strassen, Kenyattathrips Mound, Parascirtothrips Masumoto & Okajima, Scirtidothrips Hood, Scirtothrips Shull and Siamothrips Okajima. One genus, Sericopsothrips Hood, is considered a new synonym of Scirtothrips, with the only species now referred to as Scirtothrips palloris (Hood) comb.n. A second species in the genus Siamothrips is described from Malaysia as Siamothrips initium sp.n.
Nine species of Thripinae that inhabit bamboo are recorded from Malaysia. Clypeothrips idrisi sp.n. is described as a second species in the genus, and Trichromothrips bruncurrum Reyes is considered a syn.n. of Neocorynothrips asiaticus Ramakrishna & Margabandhu. Six species are newly recorded from Malaysia: N. asiaticus, Okajimaella tubercula, Simulothrips banpoti, Stenchaetothrips bambusicola, S. bambusae and S. spinalis. Seven species of Stenchaetothrips are now known from Malaysia. Illustrations and descriptions of each species are provided.
Six species are recognised in the genus Lefroyothrips, including one new species from Australia. The metascutal chaetotaxy of two of these species is unique amongst Thripidae. New distribution records given here indicate that four of the species are widely distributed: L. pictus across tropical Africa, L. lefroyi from northern India to Taiwan, L. fasciatus from Malaysia to northern Australia and New Guinea, and L. varatharajani from southern India to New Caledonia and northern Australia. An illustrated key is provided to the six known species in this genus.
The family Merothripidae is recorded for the first time from Malaysia. Three species of Merothrips, the largest genus in the family, are recorded here, with the description of Merothrips yii sp.n.
Bangithrips mei gen. et sp. n. is described from Peninsular Malaysia. The significance is discussed of outstanding structural autapomorphies that are commonly used in classifications of Thysanoptera. Argyrothrips ommatos described recently from northern Australia is recorded from Malaysia.
The survey of Thysanoptera in peninsular Malaysia has been concentrated largely in areas growing crops and flowers around Kuala Lumpur, and the Cameron Highlands, and there are few records of these insects from native forests particularly in the northern part of the country. The two species described here were collected during a recent visit to Belum-Temengor Forest Complex, in Perak State, part of the second largest forested area on the peninsular, and connected to the Bang Lang National Park, in Yala Province, Thailand. This forest has been well known as home to a number of endangered animals, including Malayan tigers and Asian elephants, as well as remarkable plant species such as Rafflesia with the world's largest flowers (Abdullah et al. 2011). Despite this, forest areas are facing a major challenge from the insatiable demand for timber, palm oil and minerals, with an 80% increase in deforestation rate in Malaysia between 1990 and 2005 (FAO 2010). Forested land in peninsular Malaysia has been estimated at 5.88 million-ha or 44% of total area, but the coverage of reserved virgin forest is about 0.40 % or 23,002-ha (Dahlan 2008).
Species of the genus Scirtothrips are studied from Malaysia for the first time. Six species of this genus are here recorded from Malaysia: S. dobroskyi is newly recorded, and four new species: S. lantanae sp.n., S. lixinae sp.n., S. hitam sp.n. and S. malayensis sp.n. are described together with an illustrated identification key. Relationships were examined between S. dorsalis and the closely related S. hitam sp.n., based on the mitochondrial gene COI, and a redescription of the widespread pest species, dorsalis, is provided. Biltothrips minutus (Bhatti) is reported from Malaysia for the first time, and illustrations provided to distinguish this genus from Scirtothrips.
An illustrated identification key is provided to 100 genera of Phlaeothripinae from China and Southeast Asia, together with a diagnosis for each genus, and comments on the species diversity. One new genus with a new species, Akarethrips iotus gen.n. & sp.n., and two new species, Heliothripoides boltoni sp.n. and Terthrothrips strasseni sp.n., are described from specimens collected in Peninsular Malaysia and Java respectively. Three Phlaeothripinae genera are synonymised, Mychiothrips Haga & Okajima syn.n. of Veerabahuthrips Ramakrishna, Syringothrips Priesner syn.n. of GigantothripsZimmermann, and Sauridothrips Priesner syn.n. of Gynaikothrips Zimmermann. In addition, four nomenclatural changes are included, Adelphothrips ignotus (Reyes) comb.n. transferred from Mesothrips, Karnyothrips palmerae (Chen) comb.n from Xylaplothrips, Xylaplothrips bogoriensis (Karny) comb.n from Brachythrips, and Oidanothrips notabilisFeng, Guo & Duan considered as a new synonym of Oidanothrips frontalis (Bagnall).
The Oriental genus Stigmothrips Ananthakrishnan is synonymised with A draneothrips Hood, a genus in which most species have been described from the Neotropics. Problems with descriptions by T.N. Ananthakrishnan of species from India are discussed, but cannot be fully resolved without access to the holotypes. A key is provided to 23 species of Adraneothrips from Asia and Australia, including four new species: darwini sp. n. from Northern Territory, Australia; hani sp. n. from Taiwan, China; yunnanensis sp. n. from Yunnan, China as well as Java, Indonesia; and waui sp. n. from Papua New Guinea. One species from the Philippines, Adraneothrips makilingensis (Reyes) comb. n., is transferred from Apelaunothrips, and the male of Adraneothrips russatus (Haga) is described and illustrated for the first time, from Yunnan, China. Two species are newly recorded from Australia: coloratus (Mound) previously known only from the Solomon Islands, and russatus (Haga) previously known from southern Japan and southern China but with one female recorded here from Fiji. Further new records are, coloratus from Java, and chinensis (Zhang & Tong) from Malaysia. Colonies of species in this genus are commonly found living on dead leaves, as fungus-feeders, and many species are brightly coloured or bicoloured in patterns of yellow and brown.
Chirothripoides brahmaputrai sp.n. is described based on a holotype female from Assam State, India, and a paratype female from Peninsular Malaysia. A key to the six species of Chirothripoides is provided, and partial sequence data of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase (mtCOI) from the holotype of the new species is generated and submitted to Barcode of Life Database.
Species of the Oriental subtropical and tropical genus Phylladothrips of fungus-feeding thrips exhibit some diagnostic character states, usually with abdominal tergite VIII bearing two pairs of wing-retaining setae and male tergite IX setae S2 about as long as S1. These species are quite small, and the maxillary stylets unusually broad for Phlaeothripinae. Phylladothripstrisetaesp. nov. from Xizang, China and P.selangorsp. nov. from Selangor, Malaysia are described, and P.fasciae is newly recorded from China. All 11 species in this genus are revised with an illustrated key.