PROCEEDINGS, 1918 27 



NOTES ON THE AEOLOTHRIPIDAE 



By R. C. Treherne, Field Officer, Kntonioldgica! Branch, 

 IJoniinion Department of Agriculture 



I take a great deal of pleasure in recording certain notes on the 

 order Thysanoptera in the Proceedings of the Entomological vSociety 

 of British Columbia. This group has been sadly neglected in Canada, 

 very few records being obtainable as to the. species present, with their 

 distribution. 



The family Aeolothripidae represents the most generalized group 

 in the Thysanoptera, and for that reason 1 have attempted to bring 

 together such information as I have been able to gather from literature 

 and from the study of certain specimens, with a view towards enlisting 

 your support and introducing to your notice this important group of 

 insects, which has not as yet received any attention at the hands of our 

 entomologists. 



This order of insects, commonly known as Thrij)s, has Deen referred 

 to the Physopoda by various authors. The name Thysanoptera, how- 

 ever, has priority over Physoda, and therefore should be used to cover 

 this group. The order is divided into two sub-order.s — -Terebrantia and 

 Tubulifera, the former having females with a saw-like ovipositor arising 

 from the 8th and 9th alulominal segments, and the latter, with females 

 without an ovipositor, the terminal segments of the abdomen being- 

 drawn out into the form of a tube. 



.According to I-Iood (1915), the sub-order Terebrantia is divided 

 into two super-families — Aeolothripidea and Thripoidea — the ovipositor 

 of the former being up-curved and of the latter down-curved. The fainily 

 Aeolothripidae, which will receive our attention in this paper, is con- 

 tained within the former super-family, and it is divided into sub-families 

 and genera in the following manner. 



Order - _ - - Thysanoptera Haliday. 



Sub-order - - - Terebrantia Haliday. 



Super-family - - Aeolothripoidea Hood. 



Family - - - - Aeolothripidae Uzel. 



KEY TO SUB-FAMILIES 



A. Labial palpi with fewer segments than maxillary palpi : antennal 

 segments often freely movable. 

 B. Maxillary palpi 7 or 8 segmented : laliial palpi .v5 segmented. 



Orothripinae Bagnall. 

 BB. Maxillar}' palpi 3-segmented; lalnal palpi 2-scgmented. 



Melanothripinae Bagnall. 



AA. Labial palpi 4-segmented ; maxillary palpi .vsegmented ; distal 



segments always closely united Aeolothripinae Bagnall. 



