Order Thysanoptera: Thrips

Thrips are in the order Thysanoptera. Thrips is singular and plural. So we can say one thrips or many thrips (however, if you find one thrips there are certainly many more!). Thysanoptera literally means ‘fringed wings.’ This is because the wing looks oar-like with a fringe of longs hairs encircling it. This gives it the appearance of a feather. Until recently, experts believed that thrips have rasping-sucking mouthparts, but experts now agree that they are piercing-sucking mouthparts. Thrips are very small, it would take 20 or more placed end to end to equal an inch. They are so small that they can move through window screening. Many thrips are plant feeders, but their are also a few predaceous species in Kentucky. The metamorphosis with the thrips is a mixture of gradual and complete.

This is an adult thrips. The wings are folded over the back. The image in your book shows the wings on one side of the body extended. Note its size relative to the plant hairs around it. Thrips are vectors (that is they can transmit these diseases between plants) of some viruses, the tospoviruses that include Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus and Impatiens Necrotic Spot Virus.

This is typical of the type of damage caused by thrips in the greenhouse. In the greenhouse they can often be found on the surface of leaves causing a silvery wound where the plants cells have been damaged. The black spots are waste spots deposited by the thrips. Out of the greenhouse they are more commonly found in protected places on the plant, in the flowers and buds.

Updated November 2005