Lace Bug

Natural Habitat

Typically found on the undersides of leaves of various deciduous trees and shrubs, including sycamore, oak, and azalea.

Diet & Feeding

Herbivorous; they use piercing-sucking mouthparts to feed on the plant juices (cell contents) from the underside of leaves.

Behavior Patterns

They exhibit incomplete metamorphosis (egg, nymph, adult). Groups often feed together on the same leaf, causing stippling or yellowing on the upper leaf surface.

Risks & Benefits

Generally considered aesthetic pests that cause leaf discoloration; they can occasionally bite humans if they land on skin, which may cause minor, temporary irritation, but they do not transmit diseases.

Identified on: 3/6/2026