Grain Thrips vs Acacia Thrips

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Grain Thrips Acacia Thrips
Scientific Name Limothrips cerealium Kladothrips waterhousei
Order Thysanoptera Thysanoptera
Family Thripidae Phlaeothripidae
Size 1.2-1.8 mm 1.5-2.5 mm
Habitat Farmland Woodlands
Diet Herbivores Gall Makers
Regions Europe, Asia, North America Oceania
Conservation Least Concern Not Evaluated

Grain Thrips

A widespread pest of cereal crops including wheat, barley, and oats. Adults are dark brown and migrate in swarms during warm summer days.

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Did You Know?

On hot summer days, grain thrips swarm in enormous numbers and are colloquially known as "thunder bugs" because they seem to appear before storms.

Acacia Thrips

An Australian gall-inducing thrips that creates enclosed galls on Acacia phyllodes. It exhibits a soldier caste that defends the gall.

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Did You Know?

This thrips has evolved a soldier caste with enlarged forelegs, making it one of the few eusocial insect lineages outside Hymenoptera.