菌食性蓟马是管蓟马科中种类最丰富（约占70%）的一类古老而形态独特的昆虫，在研究缨翅目起源与演化、系统发育、物种分化及其与环境协同进化等方面具有重要学术价值。但我国对该类群了解不多，仅少数省份有种类记载。该类群常因环境条件不同而产生多型现象和性二型等种内变异，而相似或相同生境也常会引发种间表型趋同，给该类群的分类研究带来了困扰与混乱。本项目拟采用群落生态学中广泛应用的多元统计分析法研究栖境环境对表型可塑性变异的影响，找出环境指示种及影响表型可塑性的主要环境因子，对形态近似种的性状差异与相应环境因子进行相关性分析，结合超微结构及雄性外生殖器的构造，明确哪些性状易受环境条件影响，哪些特征相对稳定，借此修订属级分类标准。在此基础上，基本查清我国菌食性蓟马的种类及区系特点。研究结果有助于揭示蓟马表型可塑性与环境的关系，探讨其在物种分化及其环境适应机制中的作用，为管蓟马科的系统发育研究提供新的依据。

As a group of primitive and peculiar insects, the fungus-feeding thrips has the most abundant species diversity, accounting for almost 70%, in the family Phlaeothripidae. It has important academic value in the thrips studies of the origin and evolution, phylogeny, species differentiation as well as synergy evolution with environment. However, the fungus-feeding thrips is poorly known in China and species recorded only in a few provinces of this country. Among the fungus-feeding thrips, the same species always exists the intraspecific variations such as polymorphism and sexual dimorphism caused by environmental change, and yet similar (or the same) habitats often induce the interspecific phenotypic convergence within different species. Such phenotypic plasticity often caused perplexing and disorder in systematics of fungus-feeding thrips. In this project, we aim to investigate the effects of habitat environment on the variation of phenotypic plasticity by using the multivariate statistics analysis which used widely in community ecology, and find out the environmental indicating species and key environmental factors which impacted the phenotypic plasticity of fungus-feeding thrips. The correlation analysis between the characteristic variances of morphological similar species and corresponding environmental factors will be made to find out which characters are susceptible to environmental conditions and which characters are relative stable. We would like to combine the above results with the ultra microstructure and the male genitalia characters to revise the quondam generic taxonomic criterion. On this basis, the project tries to survey throughout the China to make the Chinese fungus-feeding thrips species diversity richer and fauna better known. The results of the project will not only help to reveal the relationship between thrips phenotypic plasticity and environment, and discuss its role in the studies of species differentiation and environmental adaptation mechanism of fungus-feeding thrips, but also to provide the new proofs for the phylogeny study of the family Phlaeothripidae.