Black Hunter Thrips vs Fighting Soldier Thrips

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Black Hunter Thrips Fighting Soldier Thrips
Scientific Name Haplothrips leucanthemi Oncothrips tepperi
Order Thysanoptera Thysanoptera
Family Phlaeothripidae Phlaeothripidae
Size 1.5-2.2 mm 1.5-3 mm
Habitat Farmland Deserts & Drylands
Diet Pollen Feeders Gall Makers
Regions Europe Australia
Conservation Least Concern Not Evaluated

Black Hunter Thrips

A tube-tailed thrips found in the flowers of daisies and other composites across Europe. Unlike many thrips, it has a tubular last abdominal segment.

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Did You Know?

Tube-tailed thrips like this species use their distinctive abdominal tube to deposit droplets of defensive fluid when threatened.

Fighting Soldier Thrips

A eusocial Australian thrips that forms colonies inside galls on Acacia trees with distinct reproductive and soldier castes. Soldiers patrol the gall and attack intruding insects.

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Did You Know?

They are one of only about a dozen thrips species worldwide known to have evolved true eusociality with a soldier caste.