Azaleothrips, a phlaeothripine genus of fungus-feeding species, is presumably endemic to the Oriental Region between India and Japan. Although only 10 species have been known in this genus until now, a total of 35 species is recorded here, of which 26 are newly described: from Indonesia--A. bali sp.n., A. bulelengi sp.n., A. dentatus sp.n., A. dorsalis sp.n., A. floresi sp.n., A. inflavus sp.n., A. simulans sp.n., A. sulawesicus sp.n., from the Philippines--A. apoensis sp.n., A. bifidius sp.n., A. luzonensis sp.n., A. mindanaoensis sp.n., A. philippinensis sp.n., from Taiwan--A. atayal sp.n., A. formosae sp.n., A. taiwanus sp.n., from Thailand--A. flavicollis sp.n., A. phuketanus sp.n., A. pulcher sp.n., A. toshifumii sp.n., from Vietnam--A. laocai sp.n., A. vietnamensis sp.n., from W. Malaysia--A. malaya sp.n., A. reticulatus sp.n., A. richardi sp.n., A. templeri sp.n. In addition A. magnus Chen, described from Taiwan, is newly synonymized with A. moundi. Azaleothrips laevigatus, described from southern Japan, is newly recorded more widely in Southeast Asia. A key to 33 species is provided, but A. bhattii and A. lineus cannot be recognized because of the poor information in the original descriptions.
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.
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.
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.
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).
Pandanothrips gen. n. is described, with three new species inhabiting Pandanus: P. ryukyuensis sp. n. from Japan, P. wangi sp. n. from Malaysia, and P. hallingi sp. n. from Australia. This new genus shows no relationship to Projectothrips Moulton, the only other Thripinae genus known to be associated with Pandanus. Pandanothrips is superficially similar to Danothrips Bhatti, a genus of leaf feeding thrips. The morphological relationships among these genera are discussed, and an illustrated key to the species of Pandanothrips is provided.
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).
Two new species of the genus Asprothrips Crawford, A. bucerus sp. n. and A. punctulosus sp. n. are described and illustrated from China. A. bimaculatus Michel & Ryckewaert, previously known only from Martinique in the French West Indies and Malaysia, is newly recorded from mainland China and Taiwan, along with the first descriptive notes of the male, and the record from China of A. fuscipennis Kudô is considered a misidentification of A. bucerus sp. n. The generic diagnosis of Asprothrips is briefly summarized and an updated key to world species of the genus is also presented.