Thysanoptera

Thrips (Order Thysanoptera) are tiny, slender insects with fringed wings (thus the scientific name, from the Greek thysanos (fringe) + pteron (wing) (Tipping 2008)). Other common names for thrips include thunderflies, thunderbugs, storm flies, thunderblights, and corn lice. Thrips species feed on a large variety of sources, both plant and animal, by puncturing them and sucking up the contents. A large number of thrips species are considered pests, because they feed on plants with commercial value. Some species of thrips feed on other insects or mites and are considered beneficial, while some feed on fungal spores or pollen. So far around 5,000 species have been described. Thrips are generally tiny (1 mm long or less) and are not good flyers, although they can be carried long distances by the wind. In the right conditions, many species can exponentially increase in population size and form large swarms, making them an irritation to humans.

Like the words sheep, deer or moose, the word thrips is used for both the singular and plural forms. So while there may be many thrips there can also be a single thrips. The word thrips is from the Greek, meaning wood louse (Kirk 1996).

Predatory and scavenger thrips are important eliminators of small arthropod pests and organic remains, respectively.

The almost 6000 known species of thrips are at present arranged into two suborders (Terebrantia and Tubulifera) and nine families, but disagreement exists concerning the family classification system (Mound 2007). Phlaeothripidae is the largest family and the sole family in the suborder Tubulifera with about 3500 described species (Mound and Morris 2007). The other eight families are all included in the suborder Terebrantia (2400 species). Members of the Merothripidae (15 species) and Uzelothripidae (1 species) are all very small thrips associated with fungal hyphae in warm countries. In contrast, members of the Melanthripidae (65 species) are usually large and robust, and they all breed in flowers, and occur in temperate areas. Th e Aeolothripidae (190 species) is a rather larger family of mainly phytophagous species feeding on flowers, or non-obligate predators of other arthropods. The species of the next three families are poorly known, Fauriellidae (5 species) from California, southern Europe and South Africa. Adiheterothripidae (6 species) are known only from the flowers of date palms, Phoenix dactylifera and Heterothripidae (71 species), are found only in the New World and, with one exception, all species live within flowers. Th eighth family, with nearly 2100 known species is by far the largest within Terebrantia : Thripidae are found worldwide and include almost all of the pest species of thrips, many of them feed and breed on both leaves and in flowers.

Thrips are found worldwide. There are approximately 5000 species. More than 100 species inhabit the Great Lakes region.

Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native ); palearctic (Native ); oriental (Native ); ethiopian (Native ); neotropical (Native ); australian (Native ); oceanic islands (Introduced , Native )