thunderfly

Noun

thunderfly (plural thunderflies)

1. Any insect of the genus Thrips.
   • Meanwhile at the Conference Centre three fire-engines have screamed up. Not, for once, a student smoking in a bedroom: this time a cloud of thunderflies has chosen to swarm on the pearly-pink just-warm globe of a smoke-detector.1987, Fleur Adcock, “Wildlife”, in Gillian Clarke, editor, The Poetry Book Society Anthology 1987/88, London: Hutchinson, →ISBN
   • The afternoon had turned overcast and sultry, and Sawrey drowsed in the growing July heat. Clouds of tiny midges—thunderflies, people called them—very small and black, and thought to be a sign of a coming storm, gathered in the air all over the village. […] And whilst thunderflies didn’t bite or...2005, Susan Wittig Albert, “Sarah Barwick Makes a Mess”, in The Tale of Holly How (The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter; 2), New York, N.Y.: Berkley Prime Crime, →ISBN, page 32

   Synonyms:

   thunderbug