Most of the Florida records are from the northern part of the state. The oldest Florida specimen in the Florida State Collection of Arthropods (FSCA) was collected at Riverview, Hillsborough County, Florida. With the exception of Hillsborough County, all Florida records are from the northern part of the state.
Eggs: The eggs are smooth, whitish, glistening, semitransparent, ovoid in shape, and 0.3 mm long. The broad end is slightly inserted into the leaf. The upper end of the egg is truncate and has a brown covering. Comstock (1880) reported that the eggs are sometimes confused with certain forms of fungi such as Phoma sp., or with certain kinds of hemipterous galls.
Nymphs: The nymphs are mostly shiny brown, broadly oval, flat and spiny.
There are at least 27 species of Corythucha that feed on deciduous trees and shrubs. Many have specific host preferences, but C. cydoniae does not (Johnson and Lyon 1994). This complicates identification for C. cydoniae.
While Corythucha cydoniae is the only lace bug reported as a pest of Pyracantha (Drake and Ruhoff 1965), adults are needed for confirmation since diagnostic keys do not exist for egg and nymphal stages of C. cydoniae and related species. Other hosts of this lace bug are sometimes attacked by similar species. As a result, host identification alone is not adequate for identifying the hawthorn lace bug, except for Pyrancantha. Field identification of adults is difficult because there are several similar species. Specimens are small and pigmentation is variable within a species. The most valuable diagnostic character is the straight hind margin of the apical, hemelytron crossbar. The following diagnosis (modified from Blatchley 1926) distinguishes C. cydoniae from other species of Corythucha.
The crest of the hood is much elevated, more than twice as high as the median carina (elongated ridge) of the pronotum. The costal area of the hemelytrons typically has basal and apical crossbars, the space between these mostly pale with the front of the hood declivent (sloping downward). Costal margins are nearly straight, but very slightly concave. The outer half of each paranotum (flattened or lamellate sides of pronotum) has a large dark brown spot or stripe, but the stripe often interrupted with pale cells, thus forming two spots on each paranotum; 3.0 to 3.5 mm long, 1.5 to 2.0 mm wide. The external male and female genitalia have diagnostic characters, but require microscopic examination (Bailey 1951, Feldman and Bailey 1953).
In Florida, nymphs have been reported as early as 7 June and as late as 10 October. Bailey (1951) reviewed existing life history information and added considerable research of his own under New England conditions. He found that the life cycle takes five to seven weeks, depending on the weather, and there was only one full generation per year. However, Johnson and Lyon (1994) report that one or more generations occur depending upon climare conditions, with one generation per year in New England, and four generations in Maryland.
Sailer (1945) reported that an adult bit his arm six times in approximately 17 minutes, resulting in a reddened square inch of forearm. An itching sensation resulted, but all irritation and evidence of the bites were gone by the next morning. Sailer added that it is common knowledge that Hemiptera will attempt to thrust their mouthparts into any surface upon which they alight, but this type of annoyance is very unusual.
Some of the hosts elsewhere in the U.S. include:
Authors: F.W. Mead (retired), Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Plant Industry; and T.R. Fasulo, University of Florida.
Originally published as FDACS/DPI Entomology Circular 127. Updated for this publication.
Photographs: University of Florida and Department of Plant Industry; Jim Baker, North Carolina State University
Project Coordinator: Thomas R. Fasulo, University of Florida
Publication Number: EENY-80
Publication Date: May 1999. Latest revision: March 2010.
Copyright 1999-2010 University of Florida
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