Stink Bug / Brown Stink Bug

• Shield-shaped insect of the true bug group
• About 3/8inch to 1/2 inch in length
• Front half of wings are leathery, last half usually membranous
• Triangular scutelum separates thorax and abdomen
• Sucking mouthparts
• Brown mottled above, green or yellow below

Do not confuse with Spined Soldier Bug – predatory and considered beneficial

• Slightly smaller than the brown stink bugs or brown marmorated stink bug
• Usually has a yellow cast with yellow underside
• More prominent spines on shoulder

• There is a species of brown stink bug nearly everywhere in North America
• Native species are more prevalent in the Southeast, Northeast into Canada and West to British Columbia
• Introduced species, such as brown marmorated stink bug, can be found from California to the East coast and are rapidly spreading to the North and South

• Native North American species are brown stink bugs of Euschistus sp., including E. Servus and E. Variolarius
• Introduced from Asia is the brown marmorated stink bug Halyomorpha Halys
• Hosts: row crops or herbaceous plants like corn, soybeans, vegetables and alfalfa; or woody plants like fruit and forest trees
• Stinkbugs feed with piercing and sucking mouthparts, similarly to mosquitoes. Mouthparts pierce the surface, inject an enzyme, then re-ingest the dissolved plant material
• Stink bugs feed on growing plants and may cause misshapen or stunted plants that grow improperly
• They also feed on fruit and seeds, causing blemishes and seriously impacting quality
• Some species are a winter nuisance to home owners as they congregate in homes for shelter

• Develop with incomplete metamorphosis
• Eggs are beer barrel-shaped, laid in clusters
• Nymphs congregate after hatching
• Nymphs lack fully developed wing

• Most injury occurs to seedling through V5 vegetative stage
• Feeding through rolled leaves creates a repeating pattern of holes
• Holes may be small to very elongated with yellow “halos”
• Plants with injured stalks or growing points may be stunted, tiller, or may die
• Significant stand loss in heavily infested fields
• Ears of slowed plants may mature late and will have poor kernel fill

• If given time after spring weed control, adults are winged and will leave most fields in search of food elsewhere
• Fields needing early scouting:
  • no-till into heavy cover, such as winter wheat straw or heavy winter annual weeds
  • history of stink bug injury
  • edges with cover, such as shelterbelts
  • broadleaf weeds, especially shepherd’s purse, killed after corn emergence
• No-till fields with poor seed-furrow closure, manage down pressure, residue and closure appropriately
• Insecticide seed treatments may give some relief but the large size of the pest and feeding method make it difficult to control
• Where severe damage is expected it may be possible to apply a labeled pesticide for adult control with pre-emergence weed control or no-till burn down
• Currently there are no transgenic products available for sucking insects
• Natural Enemies
  • There are a few natural enemies, such as a Tachinid fly that parasitize stink bugs, but they cannot be depended on to control damaging populations