Adult barley thrips are very small, less than 2 mm long. To the naked eye they appear slender, dark coloured and shiny. Females are winged and males are wingless. The wings lay flat along the back and are visible as pale or silver strips. The larvae are wingless, pale yellow, white or green with a slightly darker head capsule and red eyespots. They have two pupal stages. The first prepupal stage lasts only a few hours to one day; the pupal stage lasts from two to six days. Barley thrips overwinter in sod along roadsides and in shelterbelts. They prefer Kentucky bluegrass and brome sod in shelterbelts. During the growing season barley thrips can be found in barley grown throughout western Canada. In the fall, females migrate from the crop into overwintering sites. Males and late maturing larvae remain on the crop but are killed by starvation and early frosts.

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