Abstract:

Aims: Fungus-feeding Phlaeothripidae species are important components of soil invertebrates. They will contribute to the studies of biodiversity conservation and utilization, plant protection and zoogeography. Current studies on the taxonomic diversity of these species in China are insufficient, and on influence factors of distribution patterns in large scale are still unclear. Based on the extensive field surveys from China and the taxonomic studies about specimens deposited in some collections of research institutions at home and abroad, we generated a Chinese checklist of known fungus-feeding Phlaeothripidae species with their geographical distribution, summarized the current status and brief history of the taxonomy, analyzed the distribution patterns of species diversity and their drivers.
Progress: A total of 237 species of fungus-feeding Phlaeothripidae thrips were recorded in China, including 156 species from 39 genera in subfamily Phlaeothripinae and 81 species from 22 genera in subfamily Idolothripinae. Four genera were the dominant with each more than 10 species, including Bamboosiella, Psalidothrips, Apelaunothrips and Holothrips. Of these 73 species were endemic to China. More than 60 species were recorded from each province of Guangdong, Taiwan, Hainan and Yunnan, where had both tropical and subtropical humid monsoon climate characteristics and were suitable for survival of these organisms. Relative abundance analysis indicated that they were a common group of soil animals in forest litter layer of tropical and subtropical areas. Annual average temperature, precipitation and foods were the main factors for restricting the geographical distribution of these thrips.
Prospects: The results provide evidences on broadening the research field of soil biodiversity and explaining the position and large-scale spatiotemporal pattern of fungus-feeding thrips.

Key words: soil animal, fungus-feeding thrip, taxonomy, species diversity, geographical distribution