Abstract: In the present paper,the origin of the family Perlidae and the distribution characters of the tribe and the subfamily were summarized and analyzed.Based on the distribution of the genera in the world,the eight distribution types of the genera were divided.In addition,the distribution characters of the Perlidae in China were also probed preliminarily.So far two subfamilies,four tribe and twenty genera have been found in China.Ten of them,of which three genera are endemic to China,are the Oriental genera;one Palaearctic genus;three OrientalPalaearctic genera;one Oriental-Nearctic genus;four OrientalPalaearctic-Nearctic genera and one OrientalPalaearctic-Nearctic-Afrotropical genus.Moreover,the main distribution character of Chinese Perlidae is that most of the species distribute Central China region,South China region and Southwest China region.The Central China region centralizes the distribution and the break of the perlid species,and made the dispersal for the others regions.