The Aeolothripidae are a family of thrips

Thrips

Thrips are tiny, slender insects with fringed wings . Other common names for thrips include thunderflies, thunderbugs, storm flies, thunderblights, and corn lice...

. They are particularly common in the holarctic

Holarctic

The Holarctic ecozone refers to the habitats found throughout the northern continents of the world as a whole. This region is divided into the Palearctic, consisting of Northern Africa and all of Eurasia, with the exception of Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent, and the Nearctic,...

 region, although several occur in the drier parts of the subtropics, including dozens in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. Adults and larvae are usually found in flowers, but they pupa

Pupa

A pupa is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation. The pupal stage is found only in holometabolous insects, those that undergo a complete metamorphosis, going through four life stages; embryo, larva, pupa and imago...

te on the ground. While they normally prey on other arthropods, many feed also on flowers.

Genus Aeolothrips, which contains about half of all species in this family, mostly live on flowers, although a few species live at ground level as obligate

Obligate

Obligate means "by necessity" and is used mainly in biology in phrases such as:* Obligate aerobe, an organism that cannot survive without oxygen* Obligate anaerobe, an organism that cannot survive in the presence of oxygen...

 predators of mite

Mite

Mites, along with ticks, are small arthropods belonging to the subclass Acari and the class Arachnida. The scientific discipline devoted to the study of ticks and mites is called acarology.-Diversity and systematics:...

s. Those that live on flowers are normally facultative predators. A. intermedius requires floral proteins in its diet in addition to its regular prey of thrips larvale in order to breed successfully.

Franklinothrips

Franklinothrips

Franklinothrips is a genus of thrips with pantropical distribution.-Name:The genus name is derived from the surname of entomologist H. J. Franklin, who described thrips taxa in the early 1900s. The thrips genus Frankliniella is also named after him...

is a pantropical

Pantropical

In biogeography, a pantropical distribution one which covers tropical regions of all of the major continents, i.e. in Africa, in Asia and in the Americas. Examples include the plant genera Acacia and Bacopa....

 genus of ant-mimicking

Ant mimicry

Ant mimicry is mimicry of ants by other organisms. Ants are abundant all over the world, and insect predators that rely on vision to identify their prey such as birds and wasps normally avoid them, either because they are unpalatable, or aggressive. Thus some other arthropods mimic ants to escape...

 predators.

Genera

• Aduncothrips Ananthakrishnan, 1963 (1 species, A. asiaticus)
• Aeolothrips Haliday, 1836 (95 species, holarctic
  Holarctic
  The Holarctic ecozone refers to the habitats found throughout the northern continents of the world as a whole. This region is divided into the Palearctic, consisting of Northern Africa and all of Eurasia, with the exception of Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent, and the Nearctic,...
  
  )
• Allelothrips Bagnall, 1932 (7 species)
• Andrewarthaia Mound, 1967 (1 species, A. kellyana)
• Audiothrips Moulton, 1930 (2 species)
• Corynothripoides Bagnall
  Richard Siddoway Bagnall
  Richard Siddoway Bagnall was an English entomologist who specialised in Thysanoptera. Bagnall worked on world fauna and described many new genera and species and wrote 1912 Some considerations regard to the classification of the order Thysanoptera...
  
   , 1926 (1 species, C. marginipennis)
• †Cretothrips Grimaldi, 2004 (1 fossil species, C. antiquus)
• Cycadothrips Mound, 1991 (3 species)
• Dactuliothrips Moulton, 1931 (6 species)
• Desmidothrips Mound, 1977 (2 species)
• Desmothrips Hood, 1915 (14 species, Australia
  Australia
  Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
  
  )
• Erythridothrips Mound & Marullo, 1993 (1 species, E. cubilis)
• Erythrothrips Moulton, 1911 (12 species, western North and South America)
• Euceratothrips Hood, 1936 (1 species, E. marginipennis)
• Franklinothrips
  Franklinothrips
  Franklinothrips is a genus of thrips with pantropical distribution.-Name:The genus name is derived from the surname of entomologist H. J. Franklin, who described thrips taxa in the early 1900s. The thrips genus Frankliniella is also named after him...
  
  Back, 1912 (14 species, pantropical
  Pantropical
  In biogeography, a pantropical distribution one which covers tropical regions of all of the major continents, i.e. in Africa, in Asia and in the Americas. Examples include the plant genera Acacia and Bacopa....
  
  )
• Gelothrips Bhatti, 1967 (3 species)
• Indothrips Bhatti, 1967 (1 species, I. bhushani)
• Lamprothrips Moulton, 1935 (1 species, L. miltoni)
• †Liassothrips Priesner, 1949 (1 fossil species, L. crassipes)
• †Lithadothrips Scudder, 1875 ( 1 fossil species, L. vetustus)
• Mymarothrips Bagnall, 1928 (3 species)
• Orothrips Moulton, 1907 (3 species)
• †Palaeothrips Scudder, 1875 (1 fossil species, P. fossilis)
• †Permothrips Martynov, 1935 (1 fossil species, P. longipennis)
• Rhipidothripiella Bagnall, 1932 (1 species, R. turneri)
• Rhipidothripoides Bagnall, 1923 (2 species)
• Rhipidothrips Uzel, 1895 (6 species)
• Stomatothrips Hood, 1912 (8 species)
• Streothrips Bhatti, 1971 (2 species)