In the Mesozoic Era, about 252 million to 66 million years ago, thrips were mainly fed on fungal organisms. Probably because it was handed down from ancestors, many species still live in the thrips of the earth, and many species still feed on fungi or their scattered spores. Especially those that inhabit deciduous leaves or dead wood, this feeding habit plays an important role in maintaining the balance of local ecosystems. Many species of thrips, in their diets, in addition to the main food source, they will often eat some plant pollen as a supplementary food.
There are also many predatory species in thrips, which mainly prey on mites, some small insects and other species of thrips. In Brazil, two species of thrips have also been found to be extravaganzas of some insects in the family Ploughhordidae and the Horned Cicada family, and these two species of thrips are species of the genus Aulacothrips: A. tenuis and A. levinotus。 Also in Brazil, another thrips, Mirothrips arbite, has been found, which lives in the nests of some wasps and feeds on the eggs of these wasps (these host wasps such as Mischocyttarus atramentarius, Mischocyttarus cassununga, and Postes versicolor, among others). In the field, apple beetle moths are preyed upon by some thrips at various stages. There are also species in the thrips that allow plants to form galls and then live in them, and they are very primitive true social insects.
Thrips are harmful flowers
Thrips are harmful to leaves
From the perspective of human interest, most research work focuses on three main areas: (1) their harm to economic plants; (2) their role as natural enemies of mites and some insects; and (3) pollination of plants. There are very few predatory thrips, even fewer parasitic, and most species are plant-feeding. They mainly feed on plant pollen and take chloroplasts from leaf epidermal cells and mesophyll cells. It is precisely because the chloroplasts in the leaves are eaten that the color of the leaves that have been harmed by thrips often changes to a silvery copper color. Plant-feeding thrips prefer to feed on the youngest parts of the plant, such as buds, flowers, heart leaves or newly emerging branches. In addition to eating plant tissues and pollen grains, ordinary flower thrips can also eat mite eggs, which can be regarded as omnivorous. In addition to the main food sources, if thrips larvae can eat some supplemental foods such as pollen, their development time will be shortened and their mortality will be reduced. Female adults who eat complementary foods have significantly increased fertility, increased egg production, and increased lifespan.
Some of the relevant terms in this article are compared in Chinese and English:
Myrsinaceae
【Honey flower tree genus】 Rapanea
Myrsine
Extraparasite
Aetalionidae
Membracidae
Codling moths, Cydia pomonella, Laspeyresia pomonella, Carpocapsa pomonella, Grapholitha pomonella
Common blossom thrips, Frankliniella schultzei
Supplemented diet
Gall
Eusocial
Chloroplast
Epidermal cell
Mesophyll cells
Fecundity