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How to identify it
- Adults have light-colored bodies and lacy, net-patterned wings held flat over the body, which give them an almost rectangular outline from above.[2][1][4]
- Nymphs are smaller than the adults, mottled and spiny.[2]
- Look under the leaves: the bugs, their cast skins and tar-like black spots of excrement collect there, and the eggs stand upright in clusters of 30 to 50 tiny black spikes, like a miniature Stonehenge, within a circle about 3/4 inch across or less.[3][2][1]
Look-alikes
| Look-alike | How to tell them apart |
|---|---|
| Oak spider mite | Also stipples oak leaves, but it feeds on the upper surface, prefers red oaks such as pin oak, and doesn't leave the black excrement specks that lace bugs leave under the leaves.[1][2] |
| Thrips | Thrips injury looks somewhat similar, but lace bug injury is coarser.[2] |
Where it lives
Reported on oaks by extension services in New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio and Minnesota.[1][2][3][4]
Biology and life cycle
Adults overwinter in sheltered spots in the bark, and the females start laying eggs on the leaf undersides in late spring, after the leaves have expanded.[1]
There are several generations a season (typically three or four in New Jersey), so the damage builds with each generation and is usually most noticeable by late August.[1][3]
Nymphs pass through five stages before they become adults.[1]
Damage and signs
- Feeding makes tiny yellow or whitish spots on the upper leaf surface that can merge into large white patches and later turn yellow to copper; when the bugs are abundant, leaves can curl and drop early.[3][2][4]
- White and bur oaks are the main hosts.[2][1]
- The damage is mostly cosmetic: Rutgers notes that infested oaks usually make enough food before the symptoms become severe, so the effect on large trees is minimal.[1][2]
Health risk
It feeds only on oaks; none of the sources reports any harm to people or pets.[1][2]
Control
Prevention
Check leaf undersides for eggs, nymphs and adults; if control is wanted, targeting the early nymph stages works better.[1]
Pesticides
Spraying is usually not necessary, and tall oaks would need large spray volumes; lace bugs are relatively hard to control, so treatment is mainly worth considering for valuable trees in very visible spots.[1][2]
Common questions
- Why are my white oak's leaves turning pale and speckled?
- Pale speckling that merges into white patches on the upper surface, with black specks underneath, is typical of oak lace bugs; turn a leaf over to look for them.[3][2][1]
- Should I spray for oak lace bugs?
- Usually not; the damage looks alarming but is mostly cosmetic, and large oaks are hard to spray.[1][2]
Sources
- Rutgers Cooperative Extension (Plant & Pest Advisory), “Summer Pests on Oaks: Oak Sawflies, Oak Spider Mites & Oak Lace Bugs (S. K. Rettke, July 15, 2021).” plant-pest-advisory.rutgers.edu/summer-pests-on-oaks-oak-sawflies-oak-spider-mites-oak-lace-bugs (accessed 2026-10-17)
- NC State Extension, “Oak Lace Bug (factsheet).” content.ces.ncsu.edu/publication/oak-lace-bug (accessed 2026-10-17)
- Ohio State University Extension (Buckeye Yard & Garden onLine), “Oak Lace Bug Stippling Damage Whitens White Oak Leaves (J. Boggs).” bygl.osu.edu/node/369 (accessed 2026-10-17)
- University of Minnesota Extension (What's wrong with my plant?), “Oak: pale, white or opaque discoloration of leaves.” apps.extension.umn.edu/garden/diagnose/plant/deciduous/oak/leavesdiscolored.html (accessed 2026-10-17)
- iNaturalist, “Corythucha arcuata taxon page (order and family).” www.inaturalist.org/taxa/205712 (accessed 2026-10-06)