What do thrips look like?

Thrips belong to the Order Thysanoptera.

What do thrips look like?

Size:

• 0.5 mm -15 mm in length but most are shorter than 5 mm.

Body:

• Cigar-shaped, column-like or widest at wing attachment (wide shoulders), with abdomen tapering.
• Flattened as if pressed from above.
• Head square or rectangular-like.
• Appears soft or hard.

Antennae:

• Bead-like or thread-like.
• Never longer than body.

Eyes:

• Berry-like.
• Very small or large.
• Moderately separated.

Mouthparts:

• For piercing, scraping and sucking.

Wings:

• Two pairs, if present.
• Both pairs thin with no more than three veins.
• Margins entirely or partially lined with long hairs.
• At rest, wings held flat over body and either overlapping or held alongside each other.

Limbs:

• Six legs, short and stocky.
• Adhesive bladders expand from last tarsal (toe) segment.

Abdomen tip:

• Cerci (tails) absent.
• Last segment of abdomen may be long and tubular, with a ring of long hairs at the tip.

Where are thrips found?

• On leaves, and fruit.
• On flower heads where they may spend their entire life.
• Axils of grasses, leaves and flower stalks.
• Under bark and among leaf litter, moss and fungi.
• Some live in galls or shelters made by folding leaves. Galls maybe constructed by the thrip or more likely by another insect group.

What do thrips do?

• Most thrips are solitary, though they may form large groups in areas where preferred food sources are minimal.
• Some form colonies in galls or folded leaf-shelters.
• When disturbed they run or fly away.
• Their flight activity is often associated with a change in weather (hence common name 'thunder flies').
• Some flightless species are small enough to be dispersed by wind.
• Most are plant feeders feeding on leaves, pollen, nectar, flowers, fruits and young shoots of trees and shrubs.
• They tend to feed by sucking up juices created after rasping surfaces.
• They may also feed by piercing and sucking out internal juices or eat items whole such as pollen.
• Other thrips feed on fungal spores hyphae.
• Some are predators. Thrip predators prey on eggs, larvae or even the adults of a variety of insects, mites and nematodes.
• Some are pests to crops (mostly introduced species).
• They are active during the day or night. Some night active species are attracted to light.

What looks similar?

• Not readily mistaken due to unique appearance and lifestyle.