Thrips constitute several families of slender insects with fringed wings and unique asymmetrical mouthparts. They have become globally important pests, infesting a variety of agriculturally important crops. Species of thrips are difficult to identify due to their small size and similarities in morphology. Recently, in addition to morphology, both molecular and non-molecular taxonomic tools have been used to identify species differences. Insect cuticular hydrocarbons have been widely used in chemotaxonomy. In this study, a Thermal Separation Probe was used to identify the cuticular hydrocarbons of Frankliniella occidentalis, Frankliniella intonsa, Thrips palmi, Thrips hawaiiensis, Haplothrips chinensis and Gynaikothrips ficorum. We analyzed the hydrocarbon composition of adults in all 6 species, and in the larvae of F. occidentalis, T. hawaiiensis and T. palmi. The results showed that the composition of cuticular hydrocarbons differed between species. All 6 species of adults and 3 species of larvae were easily distinguishable by quantitative analysis of hydrocarbon profiles. These results provide a possible method for the identification of thrips.

蓟马由细长的昆虫组成，具有流苏的翅膀和独特的不对称口器。它们已成为对全球具有重要意义的害虫，并侵染了各种具有重要农业意义的农作物。蓟马种类小，形态相似，因此很难鉴定。最近，除了形态学，分子和非分子分类学工具都已被用来识别物种差异。昆虫表皮碳氢化合物已广泛用于化学分类学。在这项研究中，热分离探针用于识别的表皮碳氢化合物西花蓟马，花蓟马，棕榈蓟马，黄胸蓟马，蓟马羊草和Gynaikothrips ficorum。我们分析了全部6个物种以及西洋蓟马（F. occidentali s），夏威夷丁香（T. hawaiiensis）和棕榈丁香（T. palmi）幼虫的碳氢化合物组成。结果表明，表皮碳氢化合物的组成因物种而异。通过碳氢化合物分布图的定量分析，很容易区分所有6种成虫和3种幼虫。这些结果为识别蓟马提供了一种可能的方法。