Thrips-predator
Guides
Macrotrachelia nigronitens
minute pirate bug, flower bug
Macrotrachelia nigronitens is a small anthocorid bug, approximately 3 mm in length, native to Central and South America. It has established permanent wild populations in Auckland, New Zealand since at least the 1980s, and is also reported as adventive in North America. The species is a specialised predator of thrips that inhabit leaf-roll galls.
Montandoniola
Montandoniola is a genus of minute pirate bugs in the family Anthocoridae. Species in this genus are predatory, with documented cases of thrips predation. The genus was established by Poppius in 1910. At least two species have received focused study: M. confusa as a predator of gall-forming thrips, and M. moraguesi regarding its distribution in the United States.
Oriini
minute pirate bugs
Oriini is a tribe of minute pirate bugs within the family Anthocoridae, comprising approximately 6 genera and more than 60 described species. Members are small predatory true bugs distributed across multiple continents. The tribe includes economically important genera such as Orius, which are widely used in biological pest control.
Orius insidiosus
insidious flower bug, minute pirate bug
Orius insidiosus, commonly known as the insidious flower bug or minute pirate bug, is a predatory true bug widely distributed across the Americas. Adults are approximately 2–3 mm in length, black with distinctive white wing markings. The species is an important biological control agent, mass-reared commercially for management of thrips, aphids, mites, and other agricultural pests in greenhouses and field crops. Both nymphs and adults are predatory, though they also feed on pollen and plant tissues, making them zoophytophagous. Despite their beneficial role, they occasionally bite humans, causing disproportionately painful but harmless irritation.
predatorbiological-controlzoophytophagousthrips-predatoraphid-predatormite-predatoragricultural-beneficialgreenhouse-biological-controloccasional-human-bitermass-rearedcommercial-natural-enemyintegrated-pest-managementurban-insect-ecologydiapauseoverwintering-adultendophytic-ovipositionpollen-feedingOrius tristicolor
minute pirate bug, minute flower bug
Orius tristicolor is a minute pirate bug in the family Anthocoridae, known for its role as a generalist predator of small arthropod pests. The species exhibits behavioral plasticity in foraging, adjusting search effort based on leaf damage and prey type. It develops through five nymphal instars before reaching adulthood and has been documented in agricultural systems, particularly in association with thrips and spider mites. The species occurs across a broad geographic range including North, Central, and South America, the Caribbean, and Oceania.
Rhinacloa
plant bugs
Rhinacloa is a genus of plant bugs in the family Miridae, established by Reuter in 1876. The genus comprises more than 30 described species distributed primarily in the Nearctic and Neotropical regions. Some species exhibit facultative predatory behavior on soft-bodied arthropods, while others are strictly phytophagous. One species, R. callicrates, was introduced to Australia as a biological control agent for the invasive weed Parkinsonia aculeata.
Rhinacloa forticornis
western plant bug
Rhinacloa forticornis is a phyline mirid with a broad geographic distribution spanning the Americas, Caribbean, and Pacific. Laboratory studies demonstrate facultative predatory behavior on soft-bodied arthropods, particularly thrips larvae, using fore tarsi to manipulate prey and exhibiting extra-oral digestion. However, the species shows preferential feeding on plant tissue, indicating that phytophagy remains the predominant feeding mode. It has been introduced to Hawaii (1962) and is considered a pest of cotton and other crops in some regions.