Community identification
Lace Bug
Tingidae family
- Order & Family
- Order Hemiptera, Family Tingidae
- Size
- 2 to 8 mm (0.08 to 0.3 inches) in length
Natural Habitat
Found on the undersides of leaves of various trees and shrubs including oak, sycamore, and azalea.
Diet & Feeding
Herbivorous; they use piercing-sucking mouthparts to feed on the sap of host plants, causing stippling on leaves.
Behavior Patterns
They are slow-moving insects that often live in colonies on the underside of leaves and go through incomplete metamorphosis.
Risks & Benefits
Primarily a plant pest that can cause aesthetic damage to foliage; they do not bite humans or pets and have little ecological benefit beyond serving as prey for other insects.