Corythucha ciliata

Sycamore lace bug ( Corythucha ciliata ), Heidelberg 2007

The sycamore lace bug ( Corythucha ciliata ) is a family of web bugs ( Tingidae ). The German name reveals their preferred residence on plane trees ( Platanus ). Originally native to North America, it was introduced to Europe and continuously spreads since the 1960s on the continent.

Distribution and habitats

The original home of the sycamore lace bug is North America with a distribution area in the northwestern United States and western Canada. In Europe, it was first identified in the 1960s in the area of Padua in northern Italy. From there it has rapidly spread to southern Europe and southern Central Europe. In the southwest it has reached the Iberian Peninsula, to the east it is penetrated to Hungary and the Czech Republic and in the southeast it has settled the Balkan Peninsula (Bulgaria, Greece). Latest localities lie in the north of the Black Sea in Russia. To the north it reached along the Rhône in France and later on the Upper Rhine Valley to Germany in 1983 in the Rhine- Main area. In cities the bug often occurs en masse. The animals are good fliers and are also easily drifted by the wind. Apparently they are also abducted by vehicles along the main roads, which has undoubtedly contributed to the rapid spread of the bug.

The insects live on different plane types. In Europe, these are mainly Platanus occidentalis, Platanus x acerifolia ( Platanus x hybrida = ) and rarely Platanus orientalis.

Characteristics and lifestyle

The sycamore lace bug is relatively small, with body lengths from 3.3 to 3.7 millimeters. Your body is black. Your pronotum ( pronotum ) and the half- Ceiling ( Hemielytren ) are white. They show the characteristic of the family of Tingidae mesh-like pattern. The sides of the pronotum are broadened and slightly curved upwards. Next there is the head obscuring, undressed in a kaputzenartige Education ( neck bladder). To the rear the solid in a top pronotum covered the tag ( scutellum ).

The animals feed exclusively vegetable ( phytophagous ) and appears to offer only the genus Platanus suitable food. Both the adult animals ( imago ) and larvae feed on the leaf tissue. They leave blackish Kottropfen on the leaf undersides. With a heavy infestation, the trees show yellowing with premature leaf drop. Observations show that the bug also in Europe certainly has enemies, such as the Forest Guardian ( Arma custos ).

The hemimetabolic bugs overwinter in the adult stage under the loose bark of plane trees or in more remote hiding places. After mating, oviposition takes place in May on the leaf undersides. The eggs are glued to the surface in groups along the main nerve. The larvae of the first three stages remain in a group united on Eiablageort. The next two last stages disperse and move to other leaves and trees. Depending on the geographical location from one to three generations are formed. In the warm Mediterranean climate, it can be up to three in Germany is, however, formed only one.