Poinsettia Thrips vs Acacia Thrips

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Poinsettia Thrips Acacia Thrips
Scientific Name Echinothrips americanus Kladothrips waterhousei
Order Thysanoptera Thysanoptera
Family Thripidae Phlaeothripidae
Size 1.3-1.7 mm 1.5-2.5 mm
Habitat Gardens Woodlands
Diet Herbivores Gall Makers
Regions North America, Europe Oceania
Conservation Not Evaluated Not Evaluated

Poinsettia Thrips

A dark brown thrips originally from eastern North America now invasive in European greenhouses. It feeds on a wide range of ornamental plants.

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Did You Know?

Unlike most thrips, this species completes its entire life cycle on the leaf surface and never enters the soil.

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.