The thrips are a small order of minute insects which live mostly on plants.

Thrips are elongate, soft insects with piercing mouth parts used to suck plant fluids or more rarely fungal or animal tissue. Most thrips are winged, and the wings have a unique and easily recognizable structure. Both fore- and hind wing is very narrow and fringed with long hairs which significantly increase the effective area of the wing. Thrips are best known as pests on crop plants; a less well known fact is that thrips, like wasps and termites, are among the very few insect groups which have developed true sociality.