History

Father Filippo Bonanni (1638 – 1725): a first drawing and description

In 1691, the Jesuit Filipo Bonanni examined insects using a horizontal microscope and made drawings of his objects. One of the figures in his work »Micrographia curiosa, siue rerum minutarissimarum observationibus, quae ope microscopij recognitae ad viuum exprimuntur« (observations of the smallest things recognized with the microscope) is nowadays rated as the first illustration of a thrips. The details of Bonanni’s drawings even indicate, that he had examined a specimen of the genus Haplothrips. The description of his findings published in the chapter »Musca« (flies) refer to the unusual form of the insect’s extremities: »Quatuor priorum pedum extremitates, ita efformatae erant, ut crumenas simularent è membranula lucidissima compactas« (The tips of the four anterior legs resemble to membranous, translucent bags).

Baron Carl de Geer (1720 – 1778): Bladder-feet

In 1744, Charles de Geer published the »Description of a new gender of insects called bladder-foot (Physapus)« in the Memoirs of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences; German original title: »Beschreibung eines neuen Geschlechtes von Insekten Blasenfuß (Physapus) genannt«. His article includes figures of two different species showing precisely the long fringes on the insect’s wing borders. De Geer, however, did not emphasise these structures as an essential feature but referred – following Bonanni – most notably to the feet: »Die Füße sind sechs an der Zahl, die beyden vordersten am Vordertheile der Brust befestigt, die vier übrigen aber an ihrem Hintertheile. An den Füßen zeiget sich ein kleiner durchsichtiger Theil wie eine Blase« (There are six legs, the two front legs are attached at the anterior part of the thorax, the others, however, at the hind part. The tips of the feet show translucent structures looking like small bladders).

Carl von Linné (1707 – 1778): The genus name Thrips

The genus name »Thrips« was established in the work »Systema naturae« (Tom I, Pars II and Pars IV, 1758 and 1790) by the Swedish natural scientists and father of modern taxonomy Carl von Linné, who formalised the system of naming organisms with the binomial nomenclature. Most likely the name »Thrips« refers to analogies concerning appearance and behaviour (thigmotaxis) with bark beetles of the genus Ips. Linné’s first descriptions include the still valid species Aeolothrips fasciatus, Thrips physapus, Thrips minutissimus and Thrips juniperinus.

Alexander Henry Haliday (1807 – 1870):  The Thysanoptera as a new insect order

In 1836, the Irish entomologist Alexander H. Haliday described the Thysanoptera as a separate order of insects (»The name proposed is taken from the plume-like fringes of the wings«). Besides a general outline of the new order his publication »An epitome of the British genera in the order Thysanoptera« (Entomological Magazine 3: 439-451) includes descriptions of ten species. All genus names established by Haliday end on the syllable “-thrips”, a peculiarity that was adopted by later taxonomists and kept in almost all cases till today. Thus, the nomenclature within the Thysanoptera appears – unlike in other insect orders – clearly arranged and well-structured. A further important feature of Haliday is the classification into the suborders »Terebrantia« and »Tubulifera«.

Heinrich (Jindřich) Uzel (1868 – 1946):  Monograph of the order Thysanoptera

In 1895, Heinrich Uzel published the »Monografie řádu Thysanoptera« (Monograph of the order Thysanoptera). This 500 pages book did not only comprehensively summarize almost all previously published information on Thysanoptera, but described 11 new genera and 63 species, together with identification keys and illustrations. This remarkable, seminal work provided the basis for a subsequent explosion in information about thrips in the early 20th century. With a weight of 3kg and a format of 34 x 27 x 4.5cm the volume can be considered as quite formidable. Despite these dimensions, the British thysanopterists Richard S. Bagnall and Guy D. Morison used to carry this folio volume on their bicycles during field studies in the early 1900’s. [Fedor et al. (2010): Heinrich Uzel, the father of Thysanoptera studies. Zootaxa 2645: 55–63].

Hermann Priesner (1891– 1974): A standard work on European Thysanoptera

Collating the results of the vast number of single works published since Uzel’s monograph, Hermann Priesner issued a 750-paged book on the Thysanoptera of Europe in 1928 (German original title: »Die Thysanopteren Europas«). Combining aspects of systematic entomology with matters of thrips related plant diseases this work complied perfectly with the requirements of that time and the arising recognition of some thrips as important crop pests. All treated species are characterised with their host plants and distribution. Furthermore, Priesner’s descriptions are not focused on adults only but also include larval instars, even with identification keys.
Due to that work, Priesner was considered as the most notable and most qualified thysanopterist of the first half of the 20^th century.

Gert Schliephake (1925-2007) & Richard zur Strassen (1926-2013): the most important German Thysanopterists

In 1979, Gert Schliephake was appointed associate professor of systematic zoology at the Halle-Köthen College of Education. Four years later and following to numerous single works, he published the volume on Thysanoptera in Dahl’s book series on the fauna of Germany (German original title: Thysanoptera, Fransenflügler; in Dahl (Ed.): Die Tierwelt Deutschlands, vol. 66) in cooperation with Karlheinz Klimt (*1934). 246 thrips species were included in this reference identification guide. During his late research period Schliephake focused more and more on fossil thrips and published extensive identification keys on thrips inclusions in Baltic amber.

During his time as the head of the department Entomology I at the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt/Main, Richard zur Strassen established one of the most extensive Thysanoptera collections in the world. Comprising 270.000 specimens, it includes about 2700 different species and 1600 types. Zur Strassen published more 100 papers on Thysanoptera. In 2003, he published an identification guide on the Terebarantia of Europe that appeared also in Dahl’s book series on the fauna of Germany (German original title: Die terebranten Thysanopteren Europas; in Dahl (Ed.): Die Tierwelt Deutschlands, vol. 74).