Six-spotted Thrips vs Black Caterpillar Hunter

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Six-spotted Thrips Black Caterpillar Hunter
Scientific Name Scolothrips sexmaculatus Calosoma sayi
Order Thysanoptera Coleoptera
Family Thripidae Carabidae
Size 0.8-1.0 mm 20-28 mm
Habitat Farmland Grasslands
Diet Predators Predators
Regions North America, Europe Central and western North America
Conservation Not Evaluated Least Concern

Six-spotted Thrips

A tiny predatory thrips with three dark spots on each forewing. It is a valuable natural enemy of spider mites in agriculture.

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Did You Know?

A single six-spotted thrips can destroy over 100 spider mite eggs per day.

Black Caterpillar Hunter

A large, entirely black caterpillar hunter beetle native to North American prairies and grasslands. It is a powerful runner that hunts caterpillars, especially cutworms, at night.

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Did You Know?

Pioneer farmers on the Great Plains observed massive aggregations of this beetle appearing after rain to hunt cutworm outbreaks and called them rain beetles or thunderbugs.