Abstract

There are sufficient evidences to show that in India there exist numerous forms of the insect order Thysanoptera, known popularly as 'Thrips' but unfortunately our knowledge of these insects is extremely meagre, Neither Lefroy in his monumental work on 'Indian Insect Life, nor Fletcher in his pioneer publication on 'South Indian Insects,' has done sufficient justice to this group of insects; the former makes men- tion of only two species from India, while the latter does not refer to even a single species of the order. While in other countries the group had attracted the serious attention of Entomologists long ago, as may be seen from the early works of eminent scientists like Uzel, Karny, Buffa, Haliday and Bagnall in Europe, and Hood, Hinds, Morgan and Moulton in America, we in India did not have a single worker on this group until comparatively recent years. Evidently the reasons for this neglect were perhaps due to the ignorance of the importance of this group in many ways.

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