The lace bug Stephanitis typica feeds on coconut leaflet from its abaxial side. It inserts its stylet through stomata and sucks the contents of the coconut foliage. Besides this intracellular feeding, the stylet also ruptures the walls of the cells traversed in its course to reach the vascular bundles. The stylet tip in such cases terminates in phloem, thereby suggesting the ability of the bug to acquire the phloem-bound mycoplasma-like organisms, constantly associated with coconut root (wilt) disease in India.
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