Lace bug - Two words that don't belong together.

Lace bug on the underside of a leaf.  The black spots are excretions.

This is the second time I have seen lace bugs.  Lace bugs - almost an oxymoron - these strange little creatures are true bugs (Hemiptera) and not aphids (Aphididea).  However, like aphids, they feed on the juices of plants through leaves.  They typically can be found on the underside of leaves, leaf discolouration may be one of the signs that they are present.

The dark spots on the above image are the insect's droppings.  Areas where the creature has fed usually produces stippling - small white or yellow spots discolouring the surface of the leaf.  A light infestation usually is of no importance, but a large infestation can weaken a plant and cause premature leaf drop.  One way to get rid of them is to use a strong spray of water - possibly from a pressure water set to its widest setting and set back far enough from the plant not to tear leaves off.

They are very small - The above shot was done with a macro lens on with a 1:1 reproduction ratio on an APS-C sensor DSLR.  The "lacy" appearance comes from the heavily veined wings, those two back lace-like structures you can see on the insect.  

Like aphids, lace bugs can reproduce through parthenogenesis, where a female lays an unfertilized egg that develops into a functioning adult.  The advantage is that a large number of the insects can be produced in short order, where one individual can become thousands.  Parthenogenesis mostly produces females (thelytoky), but in some insect species, males can result (arrhenotoky).  This does not happen with lace bugs, however.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com


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