Southern Chinch Bug – Blissus insularis

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Southern Chinch Bug – Blissusinsularis

Latin Name: Blissusinsularis

Common Name: Southern Chinch Bug

Appearance: 

  • Southern chinch bugs have a gradual metamorphosis in which they develop from eggs to nymphs to adults.
  • The adult southern chinch insect measures 3 to 3.6 mm long and has a black body and white wings.
  • Its wings are curled over its body, each with a black triangle-shaped mark. Adults are the most frequent life stage during winter; however, nymphs and eggs can also be seen in modest quantities.
  • Chinch bugs have five life stages (instars) ranging from 0.2 to 3 mm. They are visible to the naked eye despite their modest size.

Host plant:     

Primarily St. Augustinegrass

Damages caused by Southern Chinch Bug:

Infested lawns have discolored areas. They are typically round in form. In most cases, injury initially appears in water-stressed places around the borders of the lawn or where the grass is fully grown rays of sunlight St. Augustinegrass grown on High, dry, sandy, or shell soil is highly prone to erosion. Chinch bugs are not equally dispersed in an infestation location; afflicted plots are scattered. All around the place Within a contaminated environment, the plot, B. insularis grows upright from the grass. Thatch into the soil’s top organic layer,Typically, to a depth of 38 mm beneath the surface.

Life history and habits:

All chinch bug life stages can be discovered in the thatch and at the base of turfgrass plants. They cause harm to grass by feeding on the plant’s phloem sap and injecting a poison that causes plant tissue death. If untreated, chinch bug damage causes uneven areas of yellowing turf that can spread and eventually kill the plant. Adult chinch bugs disperse from afflicted regions largely by walking but also by mating flights once nymphs have developed. Females deposit their eggs in the cracks of grass nodes and at the intersections of grass blades and stem after mating. Depending on the temperature, eggs hatch in about two weeks, when the life cycle begins again.