Brown Marmorated Stink Bug - an invasive species


While visiting my daughter at Sardis Park near Chilliwack, BC, I came across a blackberry bush that was equally flush with both fruit and bugs.  I used my cellphone camera (macro mode) to capture an image of the insect and loaded it onto my computer later.  It looked similar to the marmorated stink bug I had heard about but had some notable differences.  It turns out that it was the insect's 5th instar; it was one moult away from becoming an adult.

Marmorated stink bugs are from Asia.  They didn't show up in North America until 2001 but have been breeding their way across the continent rapidly.  They showed up in Kelowna, where I live, a few years ago.  I was amazed by how many there were infesting the blackberry bush I was examining.  I can understand that such large populations could quickly overcome an otherwise healthy plant.

According to the BC pest alert page (click here), the insect feeds on a wide range of plants (over 100 listed) and has caused extensive damage in the millions of dollars to the Mid-Atlantic apple industry.  The noxious secretions they produce not only smell bad but leave an oily residue on surfaces that is hard to remove.  It takes only a few of the pests to end up in a wine press to destroy the entire vat of harvested grapes.  

I suspect that they are just getting started here in BC.  Given their rapid rate of reproduction and ability to afflict damage on crops, I don't doubt that I will be hearing more about them soon.  If you find one, feel free to kill it.  You would be doing the industry a favour.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen.     www.ericspix.com

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