common name: sugarcane lace bug
scientific name: Leptodictya tabida (Herrich-Schaeffer) (Insecta: Hemiptera: Tingidae)
The sugarcane lace bug was first described by Herrich-Schaeffer as Monanthia tabida from specimens collected in Mexico in 1839 and synonymized as Leptodictya tabida (Herrich-Schaeffer) by Champion in 1900 (Heidemann 1913). It was discovered on sugarcane, Saccharum officinarum L. in Palm Beach County, Florida, in July, 1990. A survey conducted shortly after the discovery of this pest in Florida showed that many sugarcane fields in Palm Beach, Hendry and Collier counties were infested with L. tabida. Several hundred acres of sugarcane in Palm Beach County displayed red russeting, with more than 100 adults and nymphs of L. tabida found on some leaves (Hall 1990, 1991). This insect could become a major pest of sugarcane in Florida, perhaps more so during dry years.
russeting damage
The sugarcane lace bug occurs in numerous countries including Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Venezuela and the United States (Hawaii, Texas and Florida) (Chang and Ota 1986, Hall 1991, and Metcalfe 1966).
Adult oblong, flat, length 3.8 mm, width across the widest part of elytra 1.6 mm. Head short with five slender spines. Eyes small, globular, reddish and strongly faceted. Antennae yellowish, long and thin. Pronotum narrowed anteriorly, the disk barely convex, with three linear, low carinae, interspaces finely punctured. The elytra are transparent, elongate oval in shape, and extend far beyond the abdomen.
adult and nymph
The nymph is different from adult in appearance. The nymph is oblong, rather flat, yellowish and densely covered with erect white spinules (Heidemann 1913).
colony of nymphs
This lace bug completes a generation from egg to adult in 20 to 30 days during the summer in Hawaii (Chang 1985). Under laboratory conditions of 27°C in Gainesville, Florida, the egg stage lasted 16 to 20 days. The nymphs molt five times and mature in about 15 days. Eggs are very small and are deposited into paraenchyma cells on the underside of the leaf (Chang 1985). According to Chang 1985, the sugarcane lace bug has been reported on corn, Zea mays L.; Guinea grass, Panicum maximum Jacq.; Johnson grass, Sorghum halepense (L.) Pers.; barnyard grass, Echinochloa crus-galli (L.) Beauvois; bamboo; sugarcane, S. officinarum and teosinte, Zea mexicana (Schrad.) Kuntze.
eggs
Natural enemies of L. tabida have not been intensively studied and only Coleomegilla maculata (DeGeer) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) was listed as its predator (Chang 1985). During a trip to Central and South America in 1986, Hawaii Department of Agriculture Entomologist, Marianna Early, found eggs of L. tabida were parasitized by Erythmelus sp. in Costa Rica and Venezuela (M. Early, unpublished report 1986). An attempt to introduce this parasite from Venezuela to Florida was done by F.D. Bennett, D.G. Hall and Ru Nguyen in
May 1991. However, it was not successful. The F1 generation was produced in the Quarantine Laboratory in Gainesville but no F2 progeny were obtained.
- Chang VCS. 1985. The sugarcane lace bug: a new insect pest in Hawaii. Annual Conference
Report, Hawaiian Sugar Technology 44: A27-A29.
- Chang VCS, Ota AK. 1986. The sugarcane lacebug. Experiment Station Annual Report,
Hawaiian Sugar Planter's Association: 24-26.
- Early M. 1986. Report on an exploratory trip to Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela and Brazil.
February 10-April 22, 1986. Hawaii Department of Agriculture unpublished report. 21 pp.
- Hall OG. 1990. The sugarcane lace bug, an insect pest new to Florida. Sugar Journal 53: 10-11.
- Hall DG. 1991. Sugarcane lace bug Leptodictya tabida, an insect pest new to Florida.Florida Entomologist 74: 148-149.
- Heidemann O. 1913. The sugar-cane tingid from Mexico. Journal of Economic Entomology 6: 249-251.
- Metcalfe JR. 1966. Report on a visit to study canefly (Saccharosydne saccharivora)
(Westw.) in British Honduras, 14th April to 3rd May, 1966. Technical Bulletin Sugar Manufacturers Association Jamaica Entomol. No. 2/66, 9 pp. Abstract in Review of Applied Entomology, Ser. A. 56: 1399.
Authors: Ru Nguyen, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Plant Industry, and David G. Hall, U.S. Sugar Corporation
Originally published as DPI Entomology Circular 348.
Photographs: Division of Plant Industry
Project Coordinator: Thomas R. Fasulo, University of Florida
Publication Number: EENY-44
Publication Date: July 1998
Copyright 2000 University of Florida
Featured Creatures
Department of Entomology and Nematology
Division of Plant Industry
Electronic Data Information Source