Thrips are tiny, slender insects with rasping mouthparts. Some thrips species, such as the sixspotted thrips, are beneficial species that feed only on other insects and mites.

Common Name:  Sixspotted thrips

Scientific Name:  Scolothrips sexmaculatus

Description:  Adult thrips are slender, less than ¹/20 inch long, have long fringes on the margins of both sets of their long, narrow wings, and are commonly yellowish or blackish and shiny. Nymphs are similarly shaped with a long abdomen but lack fully developed wings; most species are translucent white to yellowish. When disturbed, many species of thrips will curve the tip of their abdomen upwards.  The adult predaceous sixspotted thrips occurs on many plants; it is distinguished from the pest thrips by three dark spots on each forewing.