### animal | arthropod | insect:

Thrip
* Most thrips are plant feeders, and many are abundant on vegetation or in flowers
  - lay eggs, but some species can birth live young
* Some thrips also damage the plant indirectly, by transmitting the virus that causes spotted wilt
  - are predacious on other small arthropods, and many feed on fungal spores
* Some thrips are predators, and a few feed on spider mites
  - such as the six-spotted thrip, which feeds on other thrips and mites
* also act as reservoirs for several onion diseases.
* also are important vectors for tomato ringspot virus
  - vectors for certain plant diseases
  - cause deformed flowers and prevent man, flower spikes from opening at all
  - develop tolerances to chemicals very easily
  - feed on pollen and some species are predaceous
* are a common sporadic pest of soybeans
  - problem in both cotton and peanuts
  - active all year in year-round greenhouses
  - also an important predator of mites, and their presence keeps mite numbers low
  - brown or tan, about one-eighth of an inch long
  - common transport vehicles for the viruses
* are generally a widespread insect pest of peanut
  - most abundant during the seedling phase of plant growth in hot, dry weather
* are minute insects that can generally be found in new leaves that are beginning to unfold
  - feed on pollen and tender plant tissue
* are most damaging to young peanut plants
  - easy to find early in the day
  - noticeable and of greatest concern on young seedling plants
  - one of the most serious pests that attack daylilies
  - plant feeders, attacking flowers, leaves, fruit, twigs and buds
  - serious pests of gladiolus
  - shallow feeders that feed primarily on surface tissue
  - slender, dark-colored insects, with fringed wings
  - small insects in the order Thysanoptera
* are small, slender insects characterized by long, hair-fringed wings
  - thin pests, the young being yellow and the adults brown or black
  - so small they look like a hyphen that moves
* are the first insect problem encountered each year
  - most common insect to attack onions and can emerge from the soil
  - smallest insects to attack cotton
  - tiny black insects longer than they are wide and there are two kinds
* are tiny insects found on the underside of corn leaves that feed on the leaves
  - that inhabit flowers, leaves, and soil
* are very small and hard to see
  - insects with narrow fringed wings that are lacking in the nymphs
* attack the foliage, buds and flowers of many vegetable, ornamental and flowering plants.
* become abundant in the spring when temperatures begin to warm up
  - infective only when they acquire the virus while feeding on infected plants as larvae
* breed inside the unopened leaf spindles, leaf sheaths, flower bracts and flower tubes.
* build up on alfalfa, small grains, and weeds.
* can also be a problem and can be controlled with the same insecticides.
* can attack flower buds which then open partially, turn brown and drop off the plant
  - okra in the seedling and early juvenile stages, delaying crop development
  - be a significant problem on garlic chives in the greenhouse
  - cause surface damage or distort growth
  - overwinter on stored corms
  - pose a threat to young cotton plants
  - scar fruit by feeding on or laying eggs in the fruit
  - spread many diseases from plant to plant
* can transmit the tomato spotted wilt virus to many different ornamentals
* cause the under surfaces of petals to turn white and wither.
* chew the top surface of leaves, leaving a striped, tan dead layer of leaf behind.
* continue to be a problem for greenhouse growers.
* damage the leaves.
* do their damage by sucking juices from the petals.
* feed at the bases of rosebuds and on the petals of open flowers.
* feed by piercing individual cells and sucking the contents
  - plant cells with their mouthparts and sucking out the cellular contents
  - rasping the bud, flower, and leaf tissues and then sucking up the plant sap
  - rupturing plant cells and sucking the contents
* feed on plant tissues by puncturing the surface and then sucking the juices
  - pollen in flowers and on soft young tissue in buds
  - the tender plant foliage of cotton
  - young leaves and flowers using rasping-sucking mouthparts
* feeding injury on the foliage leave distinct white feeding scars.
* gain access to the kernels through the silk channel opening soon after pollination.
* generally move quickly to shelter when disturbed.
* have a unique life cycle
  - wide host range
  - two pair of wings fringed with fine hairs
  - unusual mouthparts, in that they only have one mandible
* hide within the petals.
* inhabit the cones of the male cycads, where they feed on pollen.
* is an insect
* leave tiny black drops of excrement in the feeding areas.
* mature very rapidly.
* mechanically damage plants during the feeding process.
* move to seedling cotton from nearby weeds.
* often attack peas that are planted close to mature wheat fields
  - can start out on wheat, then move to other crops as the wheat dries down
  - deposit tiny greenish-black fecal specks on leaves when they feed
* pass through two nymphs stages, in which the nymphs feed on the same food as the adults.
* pose two difficulties regarding chemical controls.
* prefer to feed in rapidly growing tissue.
* puncture the tissue, then sucks the sap and fluid that is released from the injured tissue.
* rasp or tear the surface of plant tissues as they feed, then suck up the freed plant fluid.
* rasp the foliage causing russeting and blackening of growth
  - leaf surface with special mouthparts and then suck up the plant juices
  - leaves, and then suck the juices from the plant
  - outer tissue layers of the leaves, flowers and corms
* run, crawl, and jump and can move rapidly.
* scrape the feeding surface and suck up the plant's fluids.
* seem to prefer damaged or unhealthy specimens.
* spread the virus to other plants with each feeding.
* survive year-round in the greenhouse.
* tend to hide in crevices in flowers and young foliage, where spray penetration is often poor.
* thrive in hot, dry conditions.
* transmit the virus.
* vary in color from dark brown to yellowish.
* wedge down deep into the blossoms and buds and avoid the pesticide.