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Sticker of Oak lace bug
Bug card No. 3068 of 4,939

Oak lace bug

Corythucha arcuata
Eats: PlantsTrue bugs and cicadasForests and woods6 legs

The oak lace bug is a very small bug with see-through wings that look like fine lace. It lives on oak leaves. It came from America and has now spread to many countries in Europe.

Lives in
North America, and since 2000 also more than 20 countries in Europe, on oaks
Top speed
about 0.2 km/h (0.12 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It cannot bite or sting people, so you can watch it up close.
What does it eat?
It feeds on oak leaves, and big groups of them can harm the trees.
For real!Photo of Oak lace bug
Picture by Slimguy. CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It spends the winter as a grown-up bug, hiding until spring.

2

It was first seen in Europe in the year 2000. Ten years later it started to spread very fast.

3

In parts of the United States it has three generations every year.

4

In Europe it has no known enemies yet, which is one reason it spreads so easily.

you asked

Most asked questions about Oak lace bug

?Is the oak lace bug harmful?

It is harmless to people, but large numbers can damage oak trees.

?Where does the oak lace bug come from?

From North America. It arrived in Europe in 2000.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Corythucha arcuata
Group
True bugs and cicadas
Family
Tingidae
Classification
Insecta > Hemiptera > Tingidae
Lives on
North America, Europe

Where the facts come from

  1. Corythucha arcuata (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Slimguy. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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