Introduction 



The members of the family Tingidae are purely plant-feeding bugs that 

 live mostly on the lower surfaces of the leaves of living plants. The thin 

 lacy outgrowths of the pronotum and the delicate lacelike texture of the 

 forewings (pis. 36, 41, 42) have quite aptly earned for them the common 

 name "lacebugs" all over the world. Expressed polyglotally, lacebugs are 

 called "netzwanzen" or " gitterwanzen" in German, "netwantsen" or 

 "netwerkwantsen" in Dutch, and "chinches de encaja" in Spanish. The 

 vernacular name in French includes that of the host plant, such as"le tigre 

 du poirier," "le tigre du cerisier," and "le tigre du caffeier." 



Systematically, lacebugs are classified in the family Tingidae of the insect 

 order Hemiptera. As cataloged herein, the family consists of 1,820 species 

 arranged in 3 subfamilies and 236 genera. These figures include both 

 living and extinct forms as far as now recorded in the literature; subgenera, 

 subspecies, varieties, and invalid taxa are not included in the totals. 



Geographically, lacebugs are widely distributed in the torrid and tem- 

 perate zones on all continents and on most islands in the oceans. They are 

 unknown in the frigid zones. 



Lacebugs are relatively small insects, some nearly miniature in size (pis. 

 1, 14, 45) and the "giants" seldom exceed one-fourth inch in length 

 (pis. 36, 38). The overall form varies from long and very slender (pis. 

 15, 16) to extremely wide (pis. 38, 40). Of the ineffable wonders of insect 

 kinds, none surpasses the lacebugs in the diversity and oddities of forms 

 (pis. 28, 30, 49) adorned with fancy lace designs. The lacework is original, 

 specific, and thus peculiar to each kind of lacebug. No two species are 

 ever dressed exactly alike. Only the adult members of the same species are 

 clothed in identical topcoats of living lace. In size, color, markings, and 

 general aspect, there are scarcely any differences in the outward appear- 

 ances between the sexes. The classification of tribes, genera, and species 

 is based for the most part upon the lacy outgrowths, especially the for- 

 mations of the pronotum and the elytra (figs. 1-6). The buccal, sternal, 

 and hypocostal laminae (figs. 1A, 3, 4) likewise furnish characterizing features. 



Adults and nymphs alike obtain food by piercing the epidermis of the leaf 

 blades of living plants and extracting the sap from the cellular tissue therein 

 by means of the protrusile and retractile stylets operating from a freely 

 movable haustellum. Only the very slender stylets of the mouth parts 

 pierce and enter the leaves to take out the sap on which they feed. 



The egg, except in the floral-gall makers, is thrust deeply into the leaf 

 of the food plants almost up to the operculum and coated with a dark 

 brownish adhesive material that soon hardens and forms a protective 



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