Brown Stink Bug – Euschistus servus

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Brown Stink Bug

 Latin name :

Euschistus Servus

Appearance :

The Brown Marmorated Stink Bug has the typical “shield” shaped body of all stink bugs. Adults are around 17 mm (5/8 inch) length and have a mottled brownish grey coloration.

Host Plants :

Despite the fact that the brown marmorated stink bug has been found on hundreds of host plants, it has strong preferences for a few species, particularly those having fruiting structures. Apple, pear, peach, grape, blueberry, soybean, tomato, and corn are all crop hosts.

Territory :

The brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys) is a Pentatomidae insect found in China, Japan, Korea, and other Asian countries. It was discovered in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in September 1998, where it is thought to have been mistakenly introduced. 

Damage Caused :

Adults and nymphs both do economic harm. Feeding causes punctured and scarred seeds as well as flattened pods in soybeans. Soybeans with large BMSB populations exhibit delayed senescence, resulting in “stay green syndrome,” which causes significant harvest losses. Feeding corn diminishes kernel quality and makes it more susceptible to disease.

Life Cycle and habits :

Females lay egg clusters on the underside of leaves, which hatch in three to six days, and adults emerge three weeks later after completing five instars. Late summer/early fall is when the population peaks. Adults spend the winter in woodlands, hiding beneath tree bark and in human-made shelters like houses and sheds. According to climate simulations, BMSB have two generations per year throughout most of the Midwest.

During courting, the male emits pheromones and vibrational signals to communicate with the female, who, like all stink bugs, responds with her own vibrational signals. The signals are used by the insects to distinguish and locate one another. This species’ vibrational signals are known for being low in frequency, and one male signal type is far longer than any other previously recorded signal in stink bugs, however the relevance of this is unknown. The brown marmorated stink bug, like all Hemiptera or “true bugs,” is a sucking insect that feeds by piercing the host plant with its proboscis. This feeding causes dimpled or necrotic patches on the outer surface of fruits, leaf stippling, seed loss, and the transmission of plant diseases, among other things.