I always make the mistake of thinking they all look the same. Lack of green sycamore leaves caused my initial suspicion.

With the information that one can gather from the photos, I would agree with being a teneral sycamore lace bug, Corythucha ciliata, however, these species has not yet been recorded in California and only as far as Colorado; it is mostly distributed in the East, though it would not surprise me that it has made it that far already. But there's always the possibility of being another species. Corythucha is the largest genus of Tingidae in the US and some species can be easily misidentified, some may need careful study under a microscope. Whichever the case, I'm very curious to know if it is indeed C. ciliata, since it would be a California record for that species, and if not, it would be good to know what it is. So, if you still have the specimen or see more of them, please let me know, I'd like to ask if you could mail them to me. Thanks.

I sent specimens to Laura, who provided this ID. So, no California record, but these did turn out to be a first for Bug Guide.

I thought they were very common.

See my earlier post:


Note the link there to Peter Bryant's UCI website, where you'll find additional images/info.

I also posted immatures:


I hardly ever take prisoners, but will send you specimens if I see any later in the year. I figure this one was a fluke, but think there will be many more when we get some leaves on the sycamores.

Sometimes, very common and abundant insects aren't recorded in the literature because everybody assumes that they are already in the books, but they're not. I would also assume this insect is all over the US where sycamores (Platanus spp.) grow, but until we have vouchers in the collections and record them, we can't tell for sure. On the other hand, the species of lace bug I was suspecting your images could be, happens to feed on a composite flower, Balsamorhiza saggittata (arrowleaf balsam root), and one of your pictures shows the lace bug on a composite flower (you said bush sunflower, a composite)so that could also be an indication, but as you said, it could have just been there accidentally. Anyway, I will appreciate if you could keep an eye on them, and if you find more lace bugs (without wing markings)on a composite, I would appreciate specimens of both, from sycamore and the composite, if at all possible. Thanks!

I'm 90% sure I'll find them on sycamore after leaves appear, I'm equally uncertain they'll be on composite. The reason? I watch bush sunflowers like a hawk all year long, and this is the only such insect I've seen there. (My shooting on yellow flowers is a running joke, here and elsewhere.)