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Avocado Lace Bug Pseudacysta perseae (Heidemann) --
Hemiptera: Tingidae |
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Avocado lace bug was first
recorded in Florida in 1908 from collected specimens. It is a true bug with sucking mouth
parts. The common name "lace
bug", refers to a lacey pattern on the thorax and wings of adults. Some
lace bug species in the United States
are important pests of azaleas rhododendrons and other ornamental
plants. In
California, populations may be found on avocado trees in residential parts of
in San Diego County. The insect has
not been reported from commercial avocado in San Diego County or northward. The lace bug numbers were found to
increase from July to September before declining to low densities in
winter. This insect also occurs in,
Georgia, and Texas Bermuda, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Puerto
Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, (all in the Caribbean), and the east and west
coasts of Mexico, and French Guyana in South America. Lace bugs were first detected in
California on backyard avocado trees in the Chula Vista and National City
areas south of the City of San Diego, California in September 2004. Adult
lace bugs are small winged insects about 2 mm in length (slightly longer than
1/16 inch) with black bodies, yellow legs and antennae, and are visible to
the naked eye. The insects live in
colonies on the lower surfaces of leaves, often with adults, eggs and nymphs
together. Eggs are laid in loose
rows, stuck to the lower leaf surface and are covered with globules of a
black, sticky tar-like substance excreted by adults. The
eggs hatch into wingless nymphs.
These then go through a gradual shedding their exoskeleton several
times as they grow in size, finally developing wings and becoming flying
adults. The nymphs are dark red-brown
to black and covered with spines.
They feed for approximately two to three weeks before maturing into
winged adults, which lay eggs, restarting the life cycle. Feeding
occurs on the undersides of leaves, which produces small white or yellow
spots on the surface of the leaves as individual cells dry out. Feeding damage may give entrance to
pathogenic fungi, such as Colletotrichum
spp. As lace bug colonies grow, brown
dead areas develop where there has been heavy feeding damage and finally leaf
drop. In
Florida avocado varieties vary in the amount of damage they sustain that
depends largely on the variety.. For
example, in the Dominican Republic the Hass variety of avocados
(Mexican/Guatemalan hybrid) may be severely damaged by lace bug outbreaks. REFERENCES:
FURTHER RELATED REFERENCES Abud,
Antun A. J. 1991. Presence of the avocado lace bug, Pseudacysta perseae (Heidemann)
(Hemiptera: Tingidae) in Dominican Republic. Primera Jornado de
Proteccion Vegetal, University of Santo Domingo, Santo Domingo, Dominican
Republic p. 4. Beshear, R. J., H. H.
Tippins & J. O. Howell. 1976.
The lace bugs (Tingidae) of Georgia.
University of Georgia, Agricultural Experiment Station Research
Bulletin 188: 1-29. Blatchley, W. S. 1926. Heteroptera or True Bugs of Eastern North
America, with Especial Reference to the Faunas of Indiana and Florida. Nature Publishing Company, Indianapolis,
USA. 1116 pp. Brailovsky, H.
& L. Torre. 1986.
Hemiptera-Heteroptera de Mexico XXXVI. Revision generica de la familia
Tingidae LaPorte. Anales del
Instituto de Biological de la Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico 56
(1985), Serie Zoologia: 869-932. Champion, G. C. 1897-1901. Insecta: Rhynchota
(Hemiptera-Heteroptera). Vol. II. In
Goodwin and Salvin (eds.). Biologia
Centrali-Americana. London. 416 pp. Drake, Carl J. & Florence A. Ruhoff. 1965.
Lacebugs of the World: A Catalog (Hemiptera: Tingidae). United States
National Museum Bulletin 243: 1–634. Froeschner, Richard C. 1995. Review of the New World lace bug genera
Acanthocheila Stål and Carvalhotingis new genus (Heteroptera: Tingidae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society
of Washington. 97 (2): 331–339. Gangé.
R. J., J. E. Peña &
F. E. Acevedo. 2008. A new Lestodiplosine (Diptera:
Cecidomyiidae) preying on the avocado lace bug, Pseudacysta perseae (Heteroptera: Tingidae) in southern
Florida. Florida Entomologist 1: 43-48. Heidemann, O. 1908. Two new species of North American
Tingidae. Proceedings of the
Entomological Society of Washington 10:
103-108. Henry, T.
J. & E. J. Hilburn. 1990. An annotated list
of the true bugs (Heteroptera) of Bermuda.
Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 92: 675-684. Hoddle, M., J. Morse & R. Stouthamer. 2007. Pseudacysta
perseae, biology and management of avocado lace bug in
California. California Avocados
2007. Houguin,
C. M., J. E. Peña, T. J. Henry & F. Acevedo. 2009. Biology of Stethoconus praefectus
(Distant) (Heteroptera: Miridae), a newly established predator of the avocado
lace bug, Pseudacysta perseae
(Heteroptera: Tingidae), in Florida.
Florida Entomologist 92:
54-57. Humeres, E. C., J. G. Morse, R.
Stouthamer, W. Roltsch & M. S. Hoddle. 2009a.
Evaluation of natural enemies and insecticides for control of Pseudacysta
perseae on avocados in southern California. Florida Entomologist 92: 35-42. Humeres, E. C., J. G. Morse, W.
Roltsch & M. S. Hoddle. 2009b. Detection
surveys and population monitoring for Pseudacysta perseae on
avocados in Southern California. Florida Entomologist
92: 382-385. Hurd,
M. P. 1946. Generic classification of North American
Tingoidea (Hemiptera-Heteroptera).
Iowa State College Journal of Science 20: 229-493. Kartesz, J. T.
& R.
Kartesz. 1980. A Synonymized Checklist of Vascular Flora
of the United States, Canada, and Greenland. Vol. II. The Biota of North
America. University of North Carolina
Press, Chapel Hill. 498 pp. Median-Gaud,
S., A. E. Segarra-Carmona & R. A. Franqui. 1991. The
avocado lacewing bug, Pseudacysta perseae
(Heidemann) (Hemiptera: Tingidae).
Journal of Agriculture of the University of Puerto Rico 75: 185-188. Moznette, G.
F. 1922. The avocado, its insect enemies and how to
combat them. U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Farmers' Bulletin 1261:
31 pp. Péricart, J.; & V. H. Golub. 1996. Aukema, Berend; Rieger, Christian (eds.). Catalogue
of the Heteroptera of the Palaearctic Region, Vol. 2: Cimicomorpha I. The Netherlands Entomological Society. Schuh,
Randall T.; Christiane Weirauch & Ward C. Wheeler. 2009.
Phylogenetic relationships within the Cimicomorpha (Hemiptera: Heteroptera): a total-evidence
analysis. Systematic Entomology. 34
(1): 15–48. Wolfe, H. S., L. R. Toy & A. L. Stahl. 1949. Avocado
production in Florida.
Bulletin-University of Florida,
Agricultural Extension Service 141:
11-124. Wolfenbarger, D. O. 1963. Insect pests of the avocado and their
control. Bulletin-University of
Florida, Agricultural Experiment Stations. Experimental Station Bulletin
605A. 52 pp. Chiappini,
E., S. V. Triapitzin & A. Donev.
1996. Key to the Holarctic
species of Anagrus Haliday
(Hymenoptera: Mymaridae) with a review of the Nearctic and Palaearctic (other
than European) species and descriptions of new taxa. Journal of Natural History 30: 551-595. Triapitzin,
S. V. 1995a. The identities of Anagrus (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae) egg
parasitoid of the grape and blackberry leafhoppers (Homoptera: Cicadellidae)
in California. Pan-Pacific Entomol.
71 (4): 250-251. Triapitzin,
S. V. 1995b. A review of the Australian species of Anagrus (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae). Russian Entomological Journal 4
(1-4): 105-108. Triapitzin,
S. V. 1997. The genus Anagrus
(Hymenoptera: Mymaridae) in America south of the United States: a review. Ceiba (Zamorano, Honduras)
38 (1): 1-12. Triapitzin,
S. V. 1998. Anagrus
(Hymenoptera: Mymaridae) egg parasitoids of Erythroneura
spp. and other leafhoppers (Homoptera: Cicadellidae) in North American
vineyards and orchards: a taxonomic review.
Transactions of the American Entomological Society. 124 (2): 77-112. Triapitzin, S. V. & D. Strong.
1995. A new Anagrus (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae), an egg
parasitoid of Prokelisia spp. (Homoptera:
Delphacidae). Pan-Pacific Entomol. 71 (4): 199-203. Triapitzin, S. V., R. F. Mizell,
J. L. Bossart & C. E. Carlton.
1998. Egg
parasitoids of Homalodisca coagulata
(Homoptera: Cicadellidae). Florida Entomologist 81
(2): 241-243. Walker, G. P., N. Zareh, I. M. Bayoun & S. V. Triapitzin. 1997.
Introduction of western Asian egg parasitoids into California for
biological control of beet leafhopper, Circulifer
tenellus. Pan-Pacific Entomologist 73 (4): 236-242. |