Insect and Spider Identification: CLOSED: Pest Attacking Ferns, 1 by mrdonagh

mrdonagh wrote:
Hi there. I have a fern garden in Toronto with about 5 varieties of ferns. I have what appears to be an infestation of a small, brown bug or parasite that anchors to the underside of the leaf. It seems to prefer my red stemmed ferns. It is so prolific and symmetrical that it almost looks like part of the leaf! I have done some research on-line and gather that a) I should treat it asap as ferns are prone to infestations and b) ferns are very sensitive to insecticides. Help!