TARNISHED PLANT BUG

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Title: TARNISHED PLANT BUG
Description: LATIN NAME: Lygus lineolaris (Palisot de Beauvois) LIFE CYCLE: Overwinter as adults that become active in spring when fruit buds swell. Eggs are laid on weeds where nymphs develop. Several overlapping generations produced per year depending upon summer temperatures. MONITORING: Inspect buds, flowers and young fruit for adults or signs or feeding (droplets of sap or discolored areas). Sweep nets and limb taps can also be used to detect presence of adults in orchard floor vegetation and trees, respectively. Adults will quickly take flight when disturbed. HOSTS: Apple, pear, peach, budding or blooming ornamental trees and shrubs. COMMENTS: Other species of lygus bugs can also appear in orchards. They all show the distinctive white v-shaped marking in the center of their back and fly readily when disturbed. Bud damage is rarely of economic importance. Lygus bug feeding injury to pears causes raised, grayish corky tissue on the surface of the fruit. BODY LENGTH: Adult - 5.0 mm; Mature nymph - 4.5 mm.