Onion Thrips vs Acacia Thrips

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Onion Thrips Acacia Thrips
Scientific Name Thrips tabaci Kladothrips waterhousei
Order Thysanoptera Thysanoptera
Family Thripidae Phlaeothripidae
Size 1-1.3 mm 1.5-2.5 mm
Habitat Farmland Woodlands
Diet Herbivores Gall Makers
Regions Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Oceania Oceania
Conservation Least Concern Not Evaluated

Onion Thrips

A cosmopolitan pest of onions, garlic, and many other crops. It can reproduce both sexually and parthenogenetically and transmits iris yellow spot virus.

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Did You Know?

Onion thrips can reproduce without mating through parthenogenesis, allowing a single female to establish an entire infestation.

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.