Thrips eggs, find and destroy them

Thrips reproduce through egg-laying. Learn to recognize these tiny egg nests to prevent the pests from spreading across your plants!

Key thrips egg facts

Size – 1/64^th inch (0.2 mm)
Per cluster – 2 to 200
Color – white or yellow

Location – inside leaves, stems, underside of leaves
Hatches in – 2-7 days

Thrips aren’t always dangerous, but knowing what you’re dealing with helps prepare for the worst. Locating thrips eggs is a first step.

Read also:

• Thrips damage to plants
• Complete thrips lifecycle

Where do thrips lay eggs?

Thrips will lay their eggs either inside a plant, or attached to it.

Soft plant tissue is vulnerable to thrips

Thrips eggs are lain in soft tissue. Most of the pest species actually lay their eggs inside the plant, in a small wound. These are typically thrips of the Terebrantia sub-order.

This is usually in:

• leaf stems
• young leaves
• flower buds
• leaf buds
• soft wood stems
• fruit
• flowers

Sometimes this infection triggers galls on the host plant.

• Plant material starts growing in a bloated, blistering manner.

Eggs glued under leaves

Some thrips lay their eggs without wounding the plant.

• They find tight crevasses in bark and leaf joints and wedge their eggs inside.
• Some of them attach their eggs to the underside of leaves with a special glue.
• About half of the different species of thrips are like this: the Tubulifera sub-order.

This special glue that is used is actually a combination of proteins and compounds the thrips produces. It’s very successful in preventing eggs from falling off due to wind and other disturbances!

Destroying thrips eggs

For those that are inserted inside the plant, only one remedy: prune that part of the plant off!

For eggs attached to leaves or stems, simply rub them with your finger to remove them. You can also spray a mix of soap and water to suffocate the eggs.

How do thrips lay eggs?

Ovipositor – a jagged organ to lay eggs in plants

For most thrips, a special pointed organ called an ovipositor is located at the end of the female thrips’ abdomen. This is used to slice through outer plant tissues.

• Shown right is a close-up view of this organ with a microscope.
• At the tip of the needle, the saw-like organ appears.
• Muscles activate it and pull it in and out, piercing plant skin and creating a hole.

The thrips then inserts a single egg in this wound.

• Most species lay two or three eggs a day.
• It’s possible to locate these “egg nests” with careful observation. A magnifying glass helps.
• White dots appear along stems or leaf veins. Each dot has one, sometimes several tiny eggs inside.

The eggs are quite large compared to the adult. Each egg is often about one-fifth of the length of the adult thrips body.

Thrips of the Tubulifera order don’t have this ovipositor. Instead, they’ve developed powerful glues that seal their eggs in place.

• Hatching is easier and nymphs can directly start feeding.
• However, eggs are more vulnerable to thrips-eating predators.

Parthenogenesis, no need for male thrips!

Normally, for most insects, unfertilized eggs result in male hatchlings, whereas a fertilized egg produces a female specimen.

However, many thrips species are able to reproduce even when no males are present. This is called complete parthenogenesis. In this case, an unfertilized egg produces a female specimen. Usually this is the result of an infection by a particular bacteria that interferes with the reproductive system.

• In this particular type of parthenogenesis, called thelytoky, females lay unfertilized eggs that are females. These are near clones of the mother and always develop into reproducing females as well.
• Some thrips species known to have both male and female genders are present in North America only in their female form!

Thrips eggs hatching

Within two to seven days, the eggs hatch under the surface. For thrips, the hatchling is quite similar to the final adult, but smaller in size and often lacking wings. It chews its way to the surface and starts crawling around to find a place to feed.

• When insect hatchlings bear a close resemblance to adult insects, they’re called nymphs.
• When they’re very different, as the caterpillar is to the butterfly, they’re called larva.

For thrips, the word “nymph” is more correct than the word “larva”.

As soon as they hatch, the thrips nymph is already equipped with mouthpieces to feed.

It even has a rather successful way of defending itself against predators! It curves its abdomen back upwards, and then releases the strain in a powerful flick! This helps it fight off many pest-eating insects like other beneficial thrips, ladybugs, and more!

• Read on to discover the next steps in the thrips lifecycle.

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