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Thrips

Thysanoptera

Published on Project Noah
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Field Notes

Description:

Came in with the wind and landed on my hand. He kind of looked like a small scorpion as you can see on the first photo, he walked with his abdomen in the air as if it was the scorpion's stinger and his two front legs are thicker than the other four.
Having this doubt I asked Dr. Manfred Ulitzka from the site www.thysanoptera.de and he said "Members of these family often put their abdomen upward to defend themselves, but it is not a kind of mimicry. Doing this some species carry a drop of anal secretion on the terminal setae which is caustic and repulses predators. " so that explains the posture. Thanks doc!

Species ID Suggestions

Thrips

Thysanoptera

Comments (1)

Thanks stho! is it possible that its mimicking a scorpion, I dont know if it is plausible as the scale is totally different on both animals.

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