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Field Guide to Common Texas Insects
Field Guide to Common Texas Insects
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Thysanoptera

Thrips usually have two pairs of slender wings with few veins and fringed with long hairs. Some species and immatures are wingless. Legs and antennae are short. Mouthparts are modified for rasping plant surfaces and sucking up the juices.  Immature stages resemble the adults.

Some thrips feed on plants; others prey on small insects. Those that feed on plants are frequently injurious in greenhouses or on vegetable crops. They will also bite humans but only cause momentary discomfort.

Thrips usually have two pairs of slender wings with few veins and fringed with long hairs. Some species and immatures are wingless. Legs and antennae are short. Mouthparts are modified for rasping plant surfaces and sucking up the juices. Immature stages resemble the adults.

Some thrips feed on plants; others prey on small insects. Those that feed on plants are frequently injurious in greenhouses or on vegetable crops. They will also bite humans but only cause momentary discomfort.  Thrips have a gradual metamorphosis (paurometabolous).Thysanoptera are tiny insects about 1/32″ to 1/8″ long.

Insects in this order: thrips, onion thrips.

See Thysanoptera for individual listings. 

 

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