Abstract
Most thrips live in terrestrial habitats and have terrestrial pupation sites. Adaptation to an aquatic habitat by thrips is uncommon, and thrips have never been considered as a distinctive ecological entity characteristic of wetland biotopes. From the scant picture of the scenario of wetland thrips and their host plant association gathered from own observations as well as from scattered literature, three ecological stages representing a continuum of adaptation of thrips to the wetland habitat are recognized. (1) All life stages are passed on non-submerged leaves (phyllosphere) or flowers (anthosphere) of the aquatic plant, and there is tolerance to occasional submersion. (2) An aquatic pupation site is required, the adults and larvae living on non-submerged parts of aquatic plants. These two ecological types together constitute the hydrophilous or semiaquatic species. (3) A submerged phyllosphere is required for the adults to live and multiply. All life stages live on fully soaked or submerged parts of the host plant. These are the aquatic thrips. The prevailing concept that all Tubulifera pupate on the host substrate near adults or larvae needs to be revised. There are many species that do not do so. However, precise information on this aspect requires more data. Seventeen species of thrips are identifiable as hydrophilous insects. Besides, there are two species of aquatic thrips. All of them belong to the family Thripidae of the Order Terebrantia. Amynothrips andersoni (Order Tubulifera), associated with alligatorweed in waterways in S. America and USA, is not hydrophilous, since it is not dependent on aquatic environment and prefers plants in terrestrial situations. A requirement for, or dependence on, an aquatic habitat is eminently shown by the monophagous Hawaiian species Organothrips bianchii living on wetland taro, but not on taro growing on dryland.
Published Version
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