No males occur in California and females reproduce without mating. After arriving in a field and feeding for a few days, they lay their eggs singly under water in the leaf sheath tissue above the plant crown. One female may lay over 200 elongated eggs (0.03 inch or less than 1 mm long) over a period of several weeks. The adults that initially infest a field prefer to feed and lay their eggs in areas of the field adjacent to the levee margins.