This week’s insect, Corythucha pallida Osborn & Drake, 1916 belongs to the lace bug family, Tingidae (Hemiptera). The pronotum and the fore wings (hemelytra) of tingids have delicate network of transparent, almost “glassy” areas (areolae) that resemble lace. The genus Corythucha is primary distributed in the new world and contains numerous, economically important pest species (i.e. Corythucha ciliata) that are often considered invasive species in other geographical regions.

Corytchucha pallida has been described by two famous American entomologists, Herbert Osborn and Carl John Drake in a well-known lace bug monograph (Osborn & Drake 1916).

Corythucha pallida differs from other Corythucha species based on the combination of the following characters: discoidal elevation present; row of spines extending along entire paranotal margin; fore wing (hemelytron) apex without dark band; areolae (transparent cells) on pronotal hood are larger than areolae on the paranota; body more than 3.6 mm long. For identification key to the adult lace bugs of North Carolina see Horn et al. 1979.

The species sucks the sap from elm (Ulmus americana) leaves and also can be found on Linden (Tilia americana) may apple (Podophyllum peltatum) and wild mulberry (Morus rubra). The eggs were usually laid in short rows of 10 to 20 per row on either side of the leafs. There are perhaps three generations a year in Missouri and it take about 20 days is required for complete nymphal development.

The species ranges from Maryland and Virginia west through Ohio and southwestward through Tennessee to Arizona. In North Carolina our specimens point to an Appalachian and Piedmont distribution.

• Lace bugs at BugGuide
• Corythucha pallida at EOL
• Drake CJ (1925) Concerning some Tingitidae from the Gulf States (Heteroptera). The Florida Entomologist, 9: 36–39
• Drake CJ & Ruhoff FA (1965) Lacebugs of the World: A Catalog (Hemiptera: Tingidae). U.S.N.M. Bull., 243: 1–634.
• Horn KF, Wright CG & Farrier MH (1979) The lace bugs (Hemiptera: Tingidae) of North Carolina and their hosts.
• Osborn H & CJ Drake (1916) The Tingitoidea of Ohio. The Ohio State UNiversity, Columbus, OH, 35pp.
• Sheeley RD & Yonke TR (1977) Biological notes on seven species of Missouri tingids (Heteroptera). Journal of Kansas Entomological Society, 50: 342-??