Wanted: Invasive Sycamore Lacebug on London Plane Trees
5 March 2014 - 7:14am — anonymous spotter
Wanted: Invasive Sycamore Lacebug on London Plane Trees
In 2013 an invasive lacebug (Sycamore Lacebug, Corythucha ciliata) was recorded from the underside of London Plane trees (Platanus x acerifolia) in Cape Town. The small bugs live in colonies under plane tree leaves, and cause ‘bronzing’ of parts of the leaf. This is the first record of this invasive species in Africa.
Professors Mike Picker and Charles Griffiths are currently studying this invasion, and would be very interested in additional records of this species. If you do notice colonies of these bugs on plane trees in your area, please post your images on iSpot and the identifications will be confirmed.
Alternatively write with images to Professor Mike Picker : [email protected]
See any observations of the Lacewing so far:
http://ispot.org.za/search/determination/Corythucha%20ciliata
(soon http://ispot.org.za/search/species_dictionary/Corythucha%20ciliata)
See any observations of London Plane so far: http://ispot.org.za/species_dictionary/Platanus or
http://ispot.org.za/search/determination/Platanus%20x%20acerifolia
Comments
fixed sorry!
fixed sorry!
Platanus x acerifolia is not in the dictionary yet!
Photos
Could you load these photos as an ob so we could enlarge them?
Have they been recorded from UCT? I'm almost certain I've seen a bug like the white one before.
Lara
Not new
These things have been on the trees on the campus of Stellenbosch University for at least 6 years...
Jannie
Then why did someone not
Then why did someone not record it, or better still publish a note?
The truth is that there are lots of things out there that just require someone to document: they are currently unknown.
Now it will really be useful to post an observation.
Tony, I did not know they
Tony, I did not know they were invasive. Will try and get pictures of it as well as the ones I pinned 6 years back.
Jannie
You pinned them?
You pinned them? They are smaller than a pin is wide!
(just for the record!!)
Did you ID them 6 years ago, or just file them?
lacebugs on Plane trees
Hi Jannie - we are writing an article on this invasive bug - and your observations of it being in Stellenbosch are useful in that they may be the first record of this invasive species in SA.
If you can post an image of your pinned bugs I can confirm their ID.
Many thanks - Mike
Will need to go and find them
Will need to go and find them in the insect museum. I glued them onto a piece bark.
Jannie
Incorrect link
Your link to London Plane is incorrect and points to Populus canescens...