Halyomorpha halys, also known as the brown marmorated stink bug, or simply
the stink bug, is an insect in the family Pentatomidae that is native to
China, Japan and Taiwan. It was accidentally introduced into the United
States, with the first specimen being collected in September 1998. The brown
marmorated stink bug is considered to be an agricultural pest, and by 2010–11 had
become a season-long pest in U.S. orchards.
Description The adults are approximately 1.7
centimetres long and about as wide, forming the shield shape characteristic
of other stink bugs. They are various shades of brown on both the top and
undersides, with gray, off-white, black, copper, and bluish markings. Markings
unique to this species include alternating light bands on the antennae
and alternating dark bands on the thin outer edge of the abdomen. The legs are
brown with faint white mottling or banding. The stink glands are located on
the underside of the thorax, between the first and second pair of legs, and on
the dorsal surface of the abdomen. Behavior
The brown marmorated stink bug is an agricultural pest that can cause
widespread damage to fruit and vegetable crops. In Japan it is a pest to soybean
and fruit crops. In the U.S., the brown marmorated stink bug feeds, beginning in
late May or early June, on a wide range of fruits, vegetables, and other host
plants including peaches, apples, green beans, soybeans, cherries, raspberries,
and pears. It is a sucking insect, a "true bug", that uses its proboscis to
pierce the host plant in order to feed. This feeding results, in part, in the
formation of dimpled or necrotic areas on the outer surface of fruits, leaf
stippling, seed loss, and possible transmission of plant pathogens.
The brown marmorated stink bug is more likely to invade homes in the fall than
others in the family. The bug survives the winter as an adult by entering
houses and structures when autumn evenings become colder, often in the
thousands. In one home more than 26,000 stinkbugs were found overwintering.
Adults can live from several months to a year. They will enter under siding, into
soffits, around window and door frames, chimneys, or any space which has
openings big enough to fit through. Once inside the house, they will go into a
state of hibernation. They wait for winter to pass, but often the warmth
inside the house causes them to become active, and they may fly clumsily around
light fixtures. Two important vectors of this pest are landscape ornamentals Tree
of Heaven and Princess Tree. The odor from the stink bug is due to
trans-2-decenal and trans-2-Octenal. The smell has been characterized as a
"pungent odor that smells like coriander."
The stink bug's ability to emit an odor through holes in its abdomen is a
defense mechanism meant to prevent it from being eaten by birds and lizards.
However, simply handling the bug, injuring it, or attempting to move it
can trigger it to release the odor. In the United States
The brown marmorated stink bug was accidentally introduced into the United
States from China or Japan. It is believed to have hitched a ride as a
stowaway in packing crates. The first documented specimen was collected in
Allentown, Pennsylvania, in September 1998. Several Muhlenberg College
students were reported to have seen these bugs as early as August of that
same year. Other reports have the brown marmorated
stink bug recovered as early as 2000 in New Jersey from a black light trap run
by the Rutgers Cooperative Extension Vegetable Integrated Pest Management
program in Milford, New Jersey. In 2002, it was again collected in New
Jersey from black light traps located in Phillipsburg and Little York and was
found on plant material in Stewartsville. It was quickly documented
and established in many counties in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware,
Connecticut and New York on the eastern coast of the United States. By 2009,
this agricultural pest had reached Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia,
Tennessee, North Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, and Oregon. In 2010 this
pest was found in additional states including Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota,
and other states. As of November 2011 it has spread to 34 U.S. states and by 2012
to 40 and showed an increase of 60% in total numbers over 2011.
= Population increase = Higher than normal numbers of stink bugs
were reported in the eastern half of the United States in 2010. The following are
some of the possible reasons for the dramatic population increase:
Stink bugs typically have four generations per growing season in Asia,
and one after transplantation to the U.S., but an unusually warm and early
spring and summer in 2010 allowed them to produce two additional generations in
regions like Maryland and Northern Virginia.
The extra generations means that some states are seeing more bugs in more
places than in previous seasons. Adults are living longer, depositing eggs
longer and maturing more generations to lay even more eggs.
The higher than normal population has caused some of the following
environmental problems: The insects have started attacking fruit
and trees in orchards in southern and eastern Pennsylvania, which had not been
seen in previous years. Bugs pierce the fruit’s outer surface
and suck out juices while injecting saliva. The suction and saliva create a
dimpling of the fruit’s surface, and rotting and corking of the flesh
underneath. The fruit is not salable because of
appearance although the dimpled area is not poisonous to humans.
The bugs attack numerous types of plants—including tomatoes, soy beans,
lima beans and sweet corn—but fruit show the damage more quickly and orchard
owners monitor for damage more closely. Little is known about what these insects
do in the wild. = Control =
Control of stink bugs is a priority of the Department of Agriculture which has
developed an artificial pheromone which can be used to bait traps. Because the
bugs insert their proboscis below the surface of fruit, and then feed, some
insecticides are ineffective; in addition, the bugs are mobile, and a new
population may fly in after the resident population has been killed. In the case
of soybean infestations research shows that spraying only the perimeter of a
field may be effective. As of 2012, native predators such as wasps and birds
were showing increased signs of feeding on the bugs as they adapt to the new
food source. = Similarity in appearance to native
species = Easily confused with Brochymena and
Euschistus, the best identification for adults is the white band on the
antennae. It is similar in appearance to other native species of shield bug
including Acrosternum, Euschistus, and Podisus, except that several of the
abdominal segments protrude from beneath the wings and are alternatively banded
with black and white and a white stripe or band on the next to last antennal
segment. The adult rice stink bug is distinguishable from the brown
marmorated stink bug by noting the straw color, the smaller size, and the
elongated shape of the rice stink bug. Predators
In China, Trissolcus japonicus, a parasitoid wasp species in the family
Scelionidae, is a primary predator. This species is not currently present in the
U.S., but is undergoing study for possible introduction. Several other
species of the parasitoid wasp have been documented attacking stink bug eggs in a
Virginia soybean field. Gallery
See also Stink bug
Acrosternum hilare, the green stink bug Nezara viridula, the southern green
stink bug Oebalus pugnax, the rice stink bug
References Further reading
Rice, Kevin B.; Bergh, Chris J.; Bergmann, Erik J.; Biddinger, Dave J.;
Dieckhoff, Christine; Dively, Galen; Fraser, Hannah; Gariepy, Tara; Hamilton,
George; Haye, Tim; Herbert, Ames; Hoelmer, Kim; Hooks, Cerruti R.; Jones,
Ashley; Krawczyk, Greg; Kuhar, Thomas; Martinson, Holly; Mitchell, William;
Nielsen, Anne L.; Pfeiffer, Doug G.; Raupp, Michael J.; Rodriguez-Saona,
Cesar; Shearer, Peter; Shrewsbury, Paula; Venugopal, P. Dilip; Whalen,
Joanne; Wiman, Nik G.; Leskey, Tracy C.; Tooker, John F.. "Biology, ecology, and
management of brown marmorated stink bug". Journal of Integrated Pest
Management 5: A1–A13. doi:10.1603/IPM14002.
Khrimian, Ashot; Shearer, Peter W.; Zhang, Aijun; Hamilton, George C.;
Aldrich, Jeffrey R.. "Field Trapping of the Invasive Brown Marmorated Stink Bug,
Halyomorpha halys, with Geometric Isomers of Methyl 2,4,6-Decatrienoate".
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 56: 197–203.
doi:10.1021/jf072087e. PMID 18069789. Funayama, Ken. "Importance of apple
fruits as food for the brown-marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys". Applied
Entomology and Zoology 39: 617. doi:10.1303/aez.2004.617.
Nielsen, Anne L.; Hamilton, George C.. "Life History of the Invasive Species
Halyomorpha halys in Northeastern United States". Annals of the Entomological
Society of America 102: 608. doi:10.1603/008.102.0405.
Aldrich, J. R.; Khrimian, A.; Chen, X.; Camp, M. J.. "Semiochemically Based
Monitoring of the Invasion of the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug and Unexpected
Attraction of the Native Green Stink Bug in Maryland". Florida Entomologist 92:
483. doi:10.1653/024.092.0310. Toyama, Masatoshi; Ihara, Fumio;
Yaginuma, Katsuhiko. "Formation of aggregations in adults of the brown
marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys: The role of antennae in short-range
locations". Applied Entomology and Zoology 41: 309.
doi:10.1303/aez.2006.309. Nielsen, Anne L.; Shearer, Peter W.;
Hamilton, George C.. "Toxicity of Insecticides to Halyomorpha halys Using
Glass-Vial Bioassays". Journal of Economic Entomology 101: 1439–42.
0022-0493(2008)101[1439:TOITHH]2.0.CO;2. PMID 18767758.
Lee, Wonhoon; Kang, Joongnam; Jung, Chansik; Hoelmer, Kim; Lee, Si Hyeock;
Lee, Seunghwan. "Complete mitochondrial genome of brown marmorated stink bug
Halyomorpha halys, and phylogenetic relationships of hemipteran suborders".
Molecules and Cells 28: 155–65. doi:10.1007/s10059-009-0125-9. PMID
19756390. Yang, Zhong-Qi; Yao, Yan-Xia; Qiu,
Lan-Fen; Li, Zhong-Xin. "A New Species of Trissolcus Parasitizing Eggs of
Halyomorpha halys in China with Comments on Its Biology". Annals of the
Entomological Society of America 102: 39. doi:10.1603/008.102.0104.
External links Wikibooks: Halyomorpha halys
Stink bug fact sheet Penn State Fact Sheet on the brown marmorated stink bug
brown marmorated stink bug on the UF/IFAS Featured Creatures Web site
Brown marmorated stink bug in Oregon brown marmorated stink bug at
Invasive.org a joint project of The Bugwood Network, USDA Forest Service and
USDA APHIS PPQ Species Profile- Brown Marmorated Stink
Bug, National Invasive Species Information Center, United States
National Agricultural Library. Lists general information and resources for
brown marmorated stink bug.