insect ID question

[dale]

Please help me name this insect! Every morning when I go out to pick what tomatoes the squirrels have deigned to leave me, I come in with very tiny pale green flying (I think) insects on me. They are really, really tiny, pale green, and BITE. I'm sure they come from the tomato plants. Any ideas? dale

[annieinelkhart]

Could they be aphids?  My uneducated guess from here in Northern Indiana.   

[Mirta]

Hi Dale
It is hard to ID without pictures. Do they fly? I´m thinking first in some kind of thrips. Could it be possible?
Thrips can be wingless or winged, they are very tiny, and can bite. Some times there are lot of them on plants.

Mirta   

[Dumpsterkitty]

Sounds like aphids to me...do they look like this ?

[Mirta]

Those are aphids, don´t have any doubt. But I´ve never heard or felt aphid bites! 
HAve you got blood or sap inside you??? 
Hugs
Mirta

[dale]

my first thought was aphids, but the photos I found on the internet didn't look right...Ei's photo is a MUCH better candidate, at least the color is right on. The little buggers are too tiny to tell the details. On the other hand, *****YES****** they most certainly are biting; they make small but itchy bites that last a day or so.

[dale]

and Mirta, that is a remarkably apt smiley you used there!

[Patti from Kentucky]

my first thought was aphids, but the photos I found on the internet didn't look right...Ei's photo is a MUCH better candidate, at least the color is right on. The little buggers are too tiny to tell the details. On the other hand, *****YES****** they most certainly are biting; they make small but itchy bites that last a day or so.

I'm kinda with Mirta...I've tangled with many aphids over the years but haven't ever noticed them biting.  So my vote would be for something else.

[Paul Hamilton]

Maybe you have a Variety Pak of small insects -- both aphids and thrips.

Paul

[Mirta]

Take a look here, there are thrips in different colors:
http://bugguide.net/index.php?q=search&keys=thrips
They are tiny, most of the aphids are  bigger and plumpier than thrips
Mirta

[dale]

I'd never heard of a thrip. well, next time I catch one biting my arm, I will do my best not to squish it and rather try to look at it under a glass. That should help. The reflex to squash is mighty powerful, of course, especially since there's nothing to them. They're little.