A revision of the tribe Plectrothripini of fungus-feeding Thysanoptera (Phlaeothripidae: Phlaeothripinae)

Abstract The tribe Plectrothripini is redefined with examination of its systematic relationships. Keys are provided to the ten genera and forty-seven species in this tribe; one genus and eighteen species are newly described; one genus and two species are newly synonymized; two genera, Chiridothrips and Eurytrichothrips , are here removed from this tribe. The species of the tribe occur throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the world; seventeen species are recorded from the Oriental Region, seventeen species from the Neotropical Region, ten species from the Afrotropical Region, two from Australia and one from the Pacific. They seem to be fungus-feeders, being found mainly under the bark of trees or on dead branches.