FEEDING HABITS OF THE LACE‐BUG URENTIUS AEGYPTIACUS BERGEVIN (HEMIPTERA: TINGIDAE)

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Abstract
Adults and nymphs of the lace‐bug Urentius aegyptiacus Bergevin (Tingidae) feed on leaves of the egg‐plant (Solanum melongena L.). The stylets of this insect are of typical hemipteran structure and are inserted into the leaf from either surface. Penetration of the epidermis is mainly intracellular, but may be intercellular or stomatal, while the course through the mesophyll and palisade tissues—frequently in a plane parallel to the leaf surfaces—is predominantly intracellular. The stylets terminate intracellularly, generally within a palisade cell, sometimes in a mesophyll cell, but only rarely in the vascular elements. The stylet sheath and track are absent and the saliva neither gels nor stains. Feeding damage, which results in externally visible chlorotic areas, is caused by the extraction of cell contents within feeding zones which are confined at first to the palisade but later extend to the mesophyll: it is accompanied by laceration of the cell walls and diffusion of an oral secretion of low phytotoxicity. Shrinkage of the leaf is due initially to collapse of the mesophyll and epithelial cells; the palisade and xylem cells retain their characteristic size and shape until destruction of the other tissues is complete.