Brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys)

Description: Originally from China, Korea and Japan. It was first discovered in Allentown, PA in 1998. Insect causes widespread damage to fruit and vegetable crops.

Identification: Adults are 1/2 in long, shield-shaped, and marbled brown in color. They have alternating black and white color patterns on the margins of the abdomen and dark-colored antennae with light colored bands. Nymphs have red and orange markings and grow darker as they age.

Hosts: Maple, serviceberry, birch, butterflybush, pepper, pecan, catalpa, hackberry, redbud, citrus, dogwood, cucumber, fig, sunflower, honeysuckle, tomato, apple, plum, pear, rose, lilac, linden, viburnum and grape.

Life Cycle: Eggs are 1/16 of an inch, pale green and laid from June to August. Most egg masses have about 25 eggs. Only one generation per year has been observed; however, there are likely to be multiple generations as it spreads south.

Impact and Damage: Causes damage to tree fruits including pitting and scarring, sometimes leading to a mealy texture in the fruit. Can cause enough damage to render the crop unusable. Entry wounds from feeding call allow disease to attack the host fruit or plant.

Similar species: Native Rough Stink Bugs (Brochymena spp.) and the Brown Stink Bug ().

Monitoring and rapid response: There are no viable strategies for control. Insecticides have a very short lived effect and there is evidence of resistance developing.

Credits: The information provided in this factsheet was gathered from Bugwood.org and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

Individual species images that appear with a number in a black box are courtesy of the Bugwood.org network (https://www.invasive.org).Individual photo author credits may not be included due to the small display size of the images and subsequent difficulty of reading the provided text. All other images appear courtesy of Google (https://images.google.com).

---