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How to identify it
- Adults are slender, about 1 mm long (females slightly larger), with a yellow body and legs, brown bristles, and two pairs of narrow, feathery wings.[1][2]
- Larvae are yellow and elongate-oval and look like small adults without wings.[1]
- Telling it from other yellow flower thrips takes a microscope and usually an expert: the second antenna segment has stout brown spines, the stalk of the third segment carries a sharp-edged ring, and a comb of tiny teeth on the rear edge of one of the hind abdominal segments is incomplete.[1]
Look-alikes
| Look-alike | How to tell them apart |
|---|---|
| Western flower thrips | Often found together with it. Under the microscope western flower thrips has a complete abdominal comb, and it is a much more damaging pest and virus carrier in fruiting vegetables.[1] |
| Eastern flower thrips | Another native yellow Frankliniella that shares the same flowers; in Georgia blueberries it outnumbers the Florida flower thrips, while in Florida the reverse is true.[1][2] |
| Chilli thrips | A common pest of roses in Florida, but its adults are smaller than flower thrips.[1] |
Where it lives
Native to Florida and southern Georgia and found throughout Florida, as well as in Bermuda and the Bahamas. It is not known from California.[1]
Biology and life cycle
Females insert pale yellow, kidney-shaped eggs about 0.4 mm long into plant tissue. Mated females produce both daughters and sons; unmated females produce only sons.[1]
Larvae and adults feed; the two pupal stages rest in the soil without feeding. In summer in southeastern Florida a generation can take as little as 11 days, and there are more than 10 generations a year. Adults live several weeks, feeding mainly on flower tissue and pollen.[1]
Females lay the most eggs at about 25°C (77°F), an average of about 123 each, and far fewer at 15°, 20° or 30°C.[2]
Adults move quickly from flower to flower and follow the bloom, moving into crops from nearby vegetation. They also feed on developing fruit when numbers are high.[1][2]
Hosts include citrus, blueberry, strawberry, tomato, pepper, eggplant, cucumber, watermelon, squash, beans and sweet corn, ornamentals such as chrysanthemum, rose and crape myrtle, and the flowers of oaks, pines, palms, wild cherry and weeds such as Bidens and asters.[1]
Damage and signs
- Feeding and egg-laying deform growing tissue, reduce harvests of fruits and vegetables, and spoil the look of flowers. On strawberry it causes bronzing.[1]
- It is the dominant thrips in Florida citrus groves, where larvae and adults damage flowers and buds. Large numbers leaving citrus after bloom can flood nearby vegetable fields.[1][2]
- It is one of the main blueberry thrips in the Southeast and made up about 84 percent of the thrips caught on sticky traps in Florida blueberry fields. Injury includes leaf curling and malformation and damage to the styles and green tissue of flowers.[2]
- In landscapes it infests crape myrtle and roses, preferring light-colored blooms; in one severe rose-garden infestation in St. Johns County, Florida, the pale blooms were scarred and appeared dwarfed.[1]
- Laboratory studies show it can transmit tomato spotted wilt virus, but it does not appear to be a major source of the virus in field vegetables compared with western flower thrips.[1]
Health risk
When swarming, Florida flower thrips is known to bite people. The bites are not known to transmit any disease, but they can irritate the skin.[1]
Control
Prevention
UV-reflective plastic mulch helps keep thrips from colonizing field-grown fruiting vegetables, although it works less well once the plants cover it.[1]
Traps and physical control
Monitor by tapping flowers over a white surface and with blue sticky cards. A threshold of 100 thrips per sticky trap per week has been proposed for blueberries, and in tomato 10 or more adults per flower are tolerated before treatment.[1]
Biological control
Minute pirate bugs and other predators keep flower thrips in check naturally, so protecting them is a key part of managing this thrips.[1]
Pesticides
Many insecticides are labeled for flower thrips, but broad-spectrum products can kill predators and native thrips and favor a buildup of the more damaging western flower thrips. Choose products that spare natural enemies and use them only when thresholds are reached.[1]
Common questions
- What are the tiny yellow insects in my rose blooms in Florida?
- Florida flower thrips is a likely suspect. It infests roses and prefers light-colored blooms, scarring petals and buds. The smaller chilli thrips also attacks roses in Florida.[1]
- Can Florida flower thrips bite?
- Yes. When they swarm they are known to bite people. The bites can irritate the skin but are not known to spread disease.[1]
- Should I spray for flower thrips in my vegetable garden?
- Often not. In peppers and tomatoes, Florida flower thrips and other native flower thrips are far less damaging than western flower thrips, and broad-spectrum sprays can make thrips problems worse by killing predators and native competitors.[1]
Sources
- University of Florida IFAS Extension (EDIS), “Florida Flower Thrips (suggested common name), Frankliniella bispinosa Morgan, Featured Creatures EENY639 (S. P. Arthurs, M. L. Kok-Yokomi and H. Smith, 2015; archival copy).” journals.flvc.org/edis/article/view/132502 (accessed 2026-11-09)
- Insects (MDPI), “Biology, Ecology, and Management of Prevalent Thrips Species (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) Impacting Blueberry Production in the Southeastern United States (Adhikari et al. 2025, Insects 16:653).” pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12296047/ (accessed 2026-11-09)
- iNaturalist, “Frankliniella bispinosa taxon page (order and family).” www.inaturalist.org/taxa/307550 (accessed 2026-11-09)