Thrips
02 Jun 2025
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Thrips
Latin: Thysanoptera — Relevance to Fly Fishing:
Thrips are small insects with fringed wings, feeding on plants and sometimes transmitting plant diseases, causing damage to agricultural crops.
Where you can find Thrips
On this map you see where there were observations of Thrips around the world. This will give you an idea of the global distribution of this class. Note that a class can have many different families, and thousands of species.
Diversity and distribution
The insect class Thysanoptera, commonly known as thrips, consists of approximately 6,000 known species. These tiny insects are characterized by their fringed wings, asymmetrical mouthparts, and their elongated, slender bodies. Thysanoptera is divided into two suborders, Terebrantia and Tubulifera, with several families and genera within each suborder.
Thysanoptera insects can be found around the world in North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia. They inhabit a variety of environments, including forests, grasslands, and agricultural areas, where they can be found on plants, feeding on plant tissues, pollen, or other small insects.
Life cycles of Thysanoptera
The life cycle of Thysanoptera insects consists of four stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Female Thysanoptera lay their eggs within plant tissues, depending on the species. Upon hatching, the larvae feed on plant cells, pollen, or small insects. Thysanoptera larvae undergo two larval stages before entering a non-feeding, pre-pupal stage, and then a pupal stage. Adult Thysanoptera insects emerge from the pupal stage and continue to feed on plant tissues or small insects, depending on the species.
Thysanoptera and fly fishing
Thysanoptera insects, due to their small size and predominantly terrestrial lifestyle, are not typically relevant to fly fishing. While some thrips species feed on small insects, their primary food sources are plant tissues and pollen, which do not coincide with the diets of most fish. Additionally, Thysanoptera rarely end up in the water.
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