Ant-Like Winged Baddie?

[GardeninginNM]

I came back from an 8 day vacation when some friends were watering our tomatoes. On the first day back I found these weird ant-like, winged insects (creatures, when enlarged). They are about 1/10 of an inch, but I was able to take a couple of really good pictures of them. They look like this:




(This was taken with my Canon camera)


Here is the insect with a tape measure:




I sprayed the first plant that had them with a water/peppermint/vinegar spray which sort-of seems to be working. Now my other four plants have the pests too. What are they and how do I get rid of them?


Thanks.


Adam

[bower]

Are you seeing any damage?

It looks like a chalcid wasp to me. Long antenna definitely not a fly. Do you have a pic of the wing that shows the wing veins?
If it is a parasitoid wasp of some kind, that is beneficial and maybe getting rid of some other small pest.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalcid_wasp
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasitoid_wasp

[Dewayne mater]

Excellent picture! That could be a western flower thrip. I'm no expert, so take it with a grain of salt. If it is a thrip, they are vector for TSVW, so a danger. Are there more of them? In big numbers, they will also destroy your flowers so that they don't pollinate. Hopefully, its a wasp as was suggested.

[bower]

Tiny pests are the most annoying - thrips are so hard to see!

But if you look at google images of western flower thrips, there are some major differences that distinguish a thrips from this excellent photo of a tiny insect.
For example: https://extension.unh.edu/resource/g...ips-fact-sheet
has a typical picture.
The thrips does not have the bulky thorax as shown, and has a much longer abdominal section. The shape is overall, not a match for this picture.
Eyespots on top are pretty cool in the thrip picture!
I've tried to take pics of thrips, it's a bad enterprise for the half blind.
I'm still betting on chalcid (or other parasitoid) wasp, unless someone finds a better match.

[NewWestGardener]

I'm just impressed by you guys' talent. First the camera man who captured the small insect with such high resolution, then the camera man managed a ruler into the photo, then the other two debating in detail about what it is.... I'm left behind eating your dust!