Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Order: Insecta

Class: Hemiptera

Family: Pentatomidae

Genus: Halyoporpha

Species: H. halys

Introduction

Halyoporpha halys is known commonly as the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug, sometimes shortened to "BMSB". H. halys is invasive to North American and parts of Europe, and is originally from East Asia. Millions of dollars of crop damage each year in the United States are attributed to H. halys, due in part to its wide host range as well as a lack of natural predators, allowing populations to grow and spread rapidly. Adults are around 1.5-2cm in length, and can be easily identified by the marbling or "marmorated" outer edge of their hindwings. While adult insects are the most commonly observed, the nymphal stages of the insect are resposible for the majority of the damage inflicted on crops.

Habitat

H. halys is native to East Asia but was introduced to North America in the 1990s. The first officially documented specimen by an expert was in 2001 in Pensylvania, however specimens are said to have been collected as early an 1996. Since its introduction in the Northeast, H. halys has spread to most of the Northeast, Midwest, and the West coast of the United States, as well as into Mexico and Southern Canada. Due to the insect's overwintering habits in human made structures, shipping and global trade have helped to expand the range of H. halys to Europe and South America as well.

Diet

H. halys has a wide variety of host plants and will consume most forms of woody vegetation, however is common for the insects to feed on commercial crops and over 60 species of host plants have been documented. Nymphs and adults will feed on the leaves of plants leaving behind a "stippling" pattern, or small chlorotic dots on the leaf from the piercing of their mouthparts into the leaves. H. halys also feeds on fruits and nuts causing deformation in immature fruits and necrosis and rot in mature fruits. Some hosts are more preffered by H. halys than others, and some of the most damaged crops include soybean, feild and sweet corns, peppers, and tomatoes.

Life Cycle

H. halys development takes around 6 weeks from the time the eggs are laid until the adults mature. In more temperate climates, there are one to two generations produced per year, but in warmer climates there can be up to six generation produced each year. This makes warmer climates, where farming of fruits and nuts is also common, more susceptible to outbreaks and high damage from H. halys.

Egg

Eggs are laid in masses of 20-30 at a time and are laid in the spring or summer on the underside of leaves. The eggs are light green and hatch in around a week after being laid.

Nymph

Nymphs are the developmental stage of hemimetabolous insects and will molt (shed their exoskeleton) multiple times in the process of growing into adults. H. halys has five instar stages, or nymphal stages where molting occurs, and each instar stage will last about a week under normal conditions. Early instars have are brightly colored, with yellowish-red and black patterns on the abdomen. As the nymphs mature, they darken in color and become almost black. None of the nymphal stages have fully formed wings, making adults and nymphs easy to tell apart. Nymphs are also the most damaging stage of the life cycle as they require a large amount of energy to develop into adults and will feed almost constantly.

Adult

Adults have fully formed wings and their color is lighter than that of the nymphal stages, becoming more of a dark brown than a black. They are sheild-shaped with marbling patterns on their hindwings and ends of their antennae. Adults overwinter in a process called diapause under rocks and logs and are often found overwintering in human made structures. H. halys becomes active in the spring and will spend around 2 weeks feeding before mating and reproducing. During the early spring, females will continue to lay eggs in one week intervals and will lay up to 400 eggs during this time. H. halys has the capabilities to release aggregation pheromones which will attract other adult stink bugs to a feeding source. They are also capable of secreting chemicals through their exoskeleton if threatened, and these chemicals can cause blisters when in contact with skin. Defense chemicals are also easily aerosolized and smell rather foul, hence the term "stink bug".

Management

Management of H. halys has proven to be more difficult than other stinkbug species due to their surprising resilience to pesticide treatments. Studies have shown that the insects do not respond to dried pesticides on leaves, but rather direct insecticide sprays, making it difficult to manage them with traditional pesticides. Biological control of H. halys is being researched, but thus far no biological control method has been proven to be significantly effective and controlling large populations. Pheromone traps have been shown to be an effective way to capture and kill H. halys adults, and is currently the best way to control populations around farming communities. There is hope that in the future, biological control may be able to curb the growth of large populations of the stink bugs.

Works Cited

Brown marmorated stink bug. Brown Marmorated Stink Bug | National Invasive Species Information Center. (n.d.). Retrieved December 5, 2021, from https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/terrestrial/invertebrates/brown-marmorated-stink-bug.

Brown marmorated stink bug - halyomorpha halys. (n.d.). Retrieved December 5, 2021, from https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/veg/bean/brown_marmorated_stink_bug.htm.

Digital Commons - Utah State University. (n.d.). Retrieved December 5, 2021, from https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1864&context=extension_curall.

Gariepy, T. D., Haye, T., Fraser, H., & Zhang, J. (2013, September 20). Occurrence, genetic diversity, and potential pathways of entry of Halyomorpha Halys in newly invaded areas of Canada and Switzerland. Journal of Pest Science. Retrieved December 5, 2021, from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10340-013-0529-3.