chrysanthemum lace bug

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not listed

not listed

Chrysanthemum lace bug is a tiny true bug. It occurs throughout the United States and southern Canada and in eastern Asia. In the U.S. it is most common east of the Great Plains and west of the Rocky Mountains. It is one of the most abundant lace bugs in North America. It is not common in Minnesota based on the number of recorded sightings. It is considered a notorious agricultural pest, attacking chrysanthemums and other ornamentals in greenhouses. It also attacks agricultural crops, including sweet potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes.

Adults are ⅛″ (3.2 to 3.4 mm) long and 1⁄16″ (1.8 mm) wide. It is one of the smaller lace bugs. The body is black. The upper parts all have a conspicuous network of ridges that creates small cells with milky white rings (areolae) around transparent (hyaline) centers.

The head is small and triangular. At the front of the head there is a rounded lobe (tylus) that projects forward. The cheeks (gena) are shorter than the tylus. There are two compound eyes and no simple eyes (ocelli). The antennae are long, slender, yellowish, and covered with bristly hairs. They have four segments. The second segment is very short, and the third segment is longer than the first two. The mouth parts are optimized for piercing and sucking. They take the form of a 4-segmented beak.

The exoskeletal plate covering the front part of the body (pronotum) is highly modified. There are three longitudinal ridges. The middle (median) ridge is arched, is higher in front than the lateral ridges, and has two rows of cells. The lateral carinas are small, low, and short, ending well before the end of the base of the hood. They do not have areolae. There is a broad, flat, lateral extension (paranotum) on each side of the pronotum that projects well beyond the sides of the body. The paranota are armed with a fringe of numerous, small, closely spaced spines. There is also a narrow, ridged extension in the rear that projects backward and covers the small plate between the wing bases (scutellum). The front of the pronotum is elevated and extended into a large hood that completely covers and extends slightly forward of the head. The hood is narrowed in front and bulbous behind. It is not connected to the paranota. It is about twice as high as the median carina. The cells on the hood are slightly larger than those on the paranota.

The wing covers (hemelytra) are narrow at the base then abruptly widened for most of their length. The sides of the widened portion are straight, not concave, and are the same width at the base and at the rear. The basal third is slightly elevated. The lateral margins are also armed with a fringe of short spines, but just on the basal half. Smokey brown spots are arranged in four transverse rows. The two rows near the tip are separated by a single row of areolae with transparent centers. The spots in each of these rows are united to form solid bands. The spots are usually well marked, sometimes very faint.

The legs are yellowish.

⅛″ (3.2 to 3.4 mm) long

Mostly plants in the Aster (Asteraceae) family, including Solidago, Aster, Ambrosia, Helianthus, and Rudbeckia, but also plants in at least five other families.

Late June to late September (CCESR)

Adults are active during the day.

Nymphs feed in colonies on the lower side of a leaf.

Leaves

Sources

24, 27, 29, 30, 82, 83.

Chrysanthemum Lace Bug (Corythucha marmorata)

Chrysanthemum Lace Bug (Corythucha marmorata) on a Wild bergamot leaf, Barnes Prairie, Racine Co., WI. Photo taken on July 2, 2021.

Location: Albany, NY

Location: Barnes Prairie, Racine Co., WI

Chrysanthemum Lace Bug (Corythucha marmorata) on a Wild bergamot leaf, Barnes Prairie, Racine Co., WI. Photo taken on July 2, 2021.