Host-plant relationships of gall-inducing Thysanoptera – the lack of patterns

Abstract

Adult Thysanoptera occur within plant galls for various reasons and use of the term "gall-thrips" without defining the particular relationship is uninformative and misleading. Apart from inducing a gall, a thrips may be found in a gall as a predator feeding on the galler, as a kleptoparasite feeding on plant cells and usurping the protective space induced by the galler, as a phytophagous inquiline breeding in low numbers in a gall without disturbing the galler, or as a casual visitor seeking protection from desiccation. These various relationships are discussed in the light of how little is known about the phylogenetic relationships amongst the Phlaeothripidae, the thrips family that includes most of the galling thrips species. Host associations amongst thrips, including the galling habit, are largely opportunistic, with few examples of a close relationship between thrips and plants above the level of genus in either group.

Current and Future Diversity of Thysanoptera Species in the Cereal Areas of the Lakes Region, Turkey

“…Phlaeothripidae in Tubulifera are one of the largest families of thrips with about 3,500 species (Mound et al, 2012;Tree and Walter, 2012). The vast majority of these species include the biologically diverse Phlaeothripinae which are domicilebuilders, opportunists and exploiters, including inquilines and kleptoparasites, as well as gal formers (Mound, 1994;Crespi et al, 2004). Most of the Phlaeothripidae species feed on fungi and more rarely on plants (Okajima, 2006;Pizzol et al, 2017).…”