Thrips facts for kids
Quick facts for kids ThripsTemporal range: Permian - Recent
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Thysanoptera
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Thrips are tiny insects. They belong to an order called Thysanoptera. People sometimes call them thunderflies, thunderbugs, or storm flies. Their scientific name, Thysanoptera, comes from Greek words meaning "fringe wing." This is because their wings look like they have fringes!
Thrips are usually very small. Most are only 1 to 2 millimeters long. That's about the size of a tiny speck! However, some thrips in other parts of the world can grow up to 14 millimeters.
What Are Thrips?
Thrips are a type of insect. They have two pairs of narrow wings that look fringed. Some thrips do not have wings at all. Scientists know about more than 6,000 different kinds of thrips around the world. About 300 of these live in Europe. Around 150 kinds are native to Britain.
How Thrips Eat
Thrips eat by poking a small hole into plants or even other tiny animals. After making a hole, they suck up the liquids inside. If thrips feed on plants that farmers grow for food or other uses, they can sometimes become a pest. This means they can cause damage to the plants.
Images for kids
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A typical thrips. Its feathery wings help it fly in a special way.
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The Australian rainforest plant Myrsine (Rapanea) howittiana is pollinated by Thrips setipennis.
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Coffee tree leaves rolled up because of damage from Hoplandrothrips thrips.
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Kladothrips thrips live in groups inside bumps called galls on Acacia trees.
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A young thrips, called a nymph. The scale bar shows it is 0.5 mm long.
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A tomato plant infected with a virus. This virus is spread by thrips.
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See also
In Spanish: Tisanópteros para niños
