The adult is about 1/8 inch long, with lacy, clear wings marked with brown to black patterns. Nymphs are clear when young, growing darker until they are black with spines along the edges of their bodies.
Winter is spent in the egg stage. Beginning in February, nymphs hatch from eggs in about 2 weeks and develop through five stages (instars) before becoming adults. Adults mate and disperse. Over a period of several weeks, female lace bugs lay smooth, white eggs in the tissue of the underside of leaves, often along a large leaf vein. Nymphs of all stages can occur together because of the extended egg laying period of the female. Two or more generations are produced per year, with periods of high nymphal numbers occurring from March through May and from July through September. Eggs deposited in leaves from September through October hatch the following spring.
Nymphs and adults injure leaves on azalea and mountain laurel.
Maintaining healthy plants with proper watering and fertilizer treatments reduces plant stress as well as damage potential. Growing azaleas in shadier areas also reduces damage. A hard jet of water from a garden hose could be directed on the undersides of the foliage to dislodge the bugs and possibly kill the nymphs, but any remaining live lace bugs may still damage the foliage. Spring is the best time to control the first or second generation of lace bugs.