Brown Marmorated Stink Bug

Introduction

The brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB), Halyomorpha halys Stål, is a recently introduced pest to the western hemisphere and was first officially reported from Allentown, Pennsylvania in 2001 (Hoebeke and Carter 2003). This stink bug may become a major agricultural pest in North America, similar to the southern green stink bug, Nezara viridula (L.). Both species are polyphagous pests of various crops, but the exact potential impact of BMSB is currently unknown until it is detected in agricultural areas. However, in eastern Asia where the BMSB is native or indigenous, it is a pest on fruit trees and soybeans.

Synonymy
There is considerable confusion in the genus and a revision is needed; all references to Halyomorpha species in Japan, Korea, and east-China are Halyomorpha halys (Rider et al., in press).

Distribution
Although the first specimen was positively identified in 2001 (Hoebeke and Carter 2003), there were numerous reports of a nuisance stink bug in Allentown, Pennsylvania, at least several years prior to that date. Interviews with homeowners indicated that there were likely breeding populations in Allentown as early as 1996 (Bernon 2004). Unlike other stink bug species, the BMSB will enter homes and other buildings seeking warm, overwintering sites, and become a nuisance pest. This behavior resulted in many complaints to the Lehigh County Extension in Allentown (Jacobs and Bernhard 2003). By 2001, the stink bug has been found in five counties in eastern Pennsylvania and two counties in New Jersey (Hamilton and Shearer 2002).

BMSB is ideal for a "hitchhiking" type of dispersal, due to its overwintering behavior. In addition, it is a strong flier. Eventually, it will probably spread throughout the United States and southern Canada (Bernon 2004). As of 2005, in addition to the many confirmed reports from Pennsylvania and New Jersey, there are now isolated reports from several eastern states and Oregon (LaBonte 2005). Rutgers University will be tracking the expanding distribution while evaluating options for future integrated pest management (IPM)( Nielsen and Hamilton 2005).

Identification
Typical of other stink bugs, the BMSB has a shield-shaped body and emits a pungent odor when disturbed. With a mottled brown, 12 to 17 mm long (approximately 1/2 inch) body, it has characteristic alternating dark and light bands across the last two antennal segments that appear as a single white band in both nymphs and adults. This is the most distinguishing characteristic in the field, although it can easily be confused with native brown stink bugs from the genera Brochymena and Euschistus (Hobeke and Carter 2003). If stink bugs are found flying into homes in the fall, they are probably the BMSB and should be reported to the UF/IFAS Cooperative Extension Service or the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services - Division of Plant Industry. Specimens should be collected for positive identification. Although the brown mottled color is distinctive, there are several native species of brownish stink bugs that will look very similar to the BMSB.

Eggs:
The white or pale green barrel-shaped eggs are laid in clusters on the undersides of leaves. Egg masses have about 25 eggs that are only about 1 mm in diameter but become apparent when nymphs have recently emerged, as they will stay at the egg mass for several days. In Pennsylvania, eggs first appeared in late June, but females continued to lay egg masses until September. Although only one generation was observed, there are likely to be multiple generations as the distribution spreads south (Bernon 2004).

Lice

Description of Injurious Stages and Damage

Each kind of farm animal may have one or more different species of lice feeding upon it, and each species of louse usually can feed on only one kind of farm animal. The different lice vary in size and colour, but all are small in size from 1 to 6 millimetres long, wingless and flattened. Some (the sucking lice) feed on the blood of animals. Others (the biting lice) feed on dead skin, dried blood and serum on the skin. The presence of either kind of lice may result in irritation and itching, so that animals scratch and rub against stanchions, fence posts or other objects, often causing sores. If animals are badly infested with lice they may become unthrifty, often resulting in loss of weight, and a decrease in milk production by dairy cattle.

Summary of Life History

Lice are usually more abundant on farm animals in the winter. They may be found in colonies in certain preferred areas of the animal's body, and when large numbers are present most of the body may be covered. Biting lice may live for a week off the host, as compared with 2 or 3 days at most for sucking lice. They move from animal to animal by contact or by crawling across walls and bedding. Eggs are glued to the hairs of the body, and usually hatch in less than 2 weeks. The young nymphs hatching from the eggs are similar in appearance to the adults, but smaller. A life cycle may be completed in about one month, and there are several generations per year. Populations peak in the winter.

Control Recommendations

Proper animal nutrition and disease management will reduce the impact of louse infestations. Louse control treatments include:

Beef and non-lactating dairy cattle - carbaryl (0.5% spray, 5% ready-to-use dust), fenthion (1% pour-on), cyfluthrin (1% pour-on), eprinomectin (pour-on), ivermectin (1% ready-to-use injectable, pour-on, or bolus), doramectin (injectable, pour-on), abamectin (injectable), moxidectin (injectable), malathion (0.5% spray, 2% backrubber solution, 4% ready-to-use dust), permethrin (0.0125% spray, 1% or 5% pour-on), rotenone dust.

Note: Non-lactating dairy cattle must not be treated with injectable or pour-on abamectin, doramectin, ivermectin or moxidectin products within 2 months, or ivermectin bolus within 184 days, of calving.

Lactating dairy cattle - carbaryl, rotenone (see above); cyfluthrin (1% pour-on), eprinomectin (pour-on), permethrin (1% or 5% pour-on); 2% malathion backrubber solution.

Swine - carbaryl (0.05% spray, 5% dust), fenthion (3% ready-to-use pour-on), ivermectin (1% injectable), malathion (0.5% spray, 4% dust), rotenone dust.

American Cockroach

Description

The American cockroach Periplaneta americana grows to a length of 2.5 cm to 4 cm and is known to be very mobile. It is found in warmer parts of New Zealand, and tropical regions around the world due to its travels via shipping and commerce between locations. The insect is believed to have originated in Africa.

The cockroach is often found residing indoors as well as outdoors. It is found mainly in basements, sewers, steam tunnels, and drainage systems. This cockroach is readily found in commercial and large buildings such as restaurants, grocery stores, bakeries, and where food is prepared and stored. The American cockroach is rarely found in houses; however after heavy rain infestations of the cockroach can enter homes.

Impact
American cockroaches can become a public health problem due to their association with human waste and disease, and their ability to move from sewers into homes and commercial establishments. Cockroaches are also aesthetically displeasing because they can soil items with their excrement and regurgitation.

Management
Overseas there are several hymenopteran (parasitic wasps) that are natural enemies of the American cockroach however; there are no records of this occurring in New Zealand.

Removal of rotting leaves and limiting the moist areas in and around buildings can help in reducing areas that are attractive to these cockroaches.

Other means of management are insecticides that can be applied to basement walls, wood scraps, and other infested locations. Residual sprays can be applied inside and around the perimeter of an infested structure. When insecticides and sprays are used to manage cockroach populations they may ultimately kill off the parasitic wasps. Loose, toxic, pellet baits are extremely effective in controlling America cockroach populations.

The Striped scorpion

Other Common Names: Plains Scorpion, Wood Scorpion

Scientific Name: Centruroides vittatus

Description: Average scorpion length is 1 to 1 1/2 inches. Young scorpions are pale yellowish-brown, usually with two lengthwise dark stripes on their abdomen; older scorpions are uniform dark brown with the stripes faint or lacking.

Missouri Habitat: A scorpion's favorite habitat is a glade. Glades are rocky, dry areas with a very thin layer of topsoil over thick bedrock. Grasses and small plants adapted to this sunny habitat cover glades, along with shrubs and stunted trees. Scorpions prefer glades with lots of loose rock (such as limestone or dolomite glades) so that they can hide from the sun during the day. They are nocturnal, meaning they are active at night.

Scorpions are sometimes found in buildings and shelters, as well as under piles of wood, brush, or garbage. This is particularly true in the Ozarks and other areas that have a lot of glades. Scorpions seek these places out, especially if there are few humans around, because here they find ideal shelter and plentiful food supplies.

Japanese Beetles

Popillia japonica also sometimes known as the Chafer Beetle Rose chafer and garden chafer are two different varieties. Japanese Beetles are a shiny copper and green beetle about 1/4 to 1/2 inch long that can eat entire flowers as well as foliage. In areas where these are abundant, they can be devastating to the look of your blooms. Japanese beetles eat large round or oblong holes in the leaves leaf edges and flowers (especially those with light colored blooms), sometimes leaving nothing but a leaf skeleton behind. They usually eat the plant from the top down. They are not going to kill the plant, but they can cause considerable damage. They are a problem for about a month to 6 weeks in the summer when they are in their adult flying form. Before that in the spring, they are 1/2 in to 1 inch long grayish white grubs living in the soil and the grass below. They feed on grass and roots at this point. When they start showing up on roses, they appear to have flown in all at once, but this is just because they all mature at about the same time. They are a much bigger problem in areas of the USA east of the Mississippi River. More information can be obtained here: The Japanese Beetle Fact Sheet . OR Control Of Japanese Beetle Adults And Grubs In Home Lawns.

Spider Mite

Adult
Adults are usually less than 0.5mm in length, have 8 legs and their spider-like appearance can just be made out with the naked eye. Under a x10 hand lens the active form of two-spotted mite appears translucent, greenish, and has two conspicuous black spots on the body. Under adverse conditions the two-spotted mites become reddish-orange. The banana spider mite is more straw coloured and lacks spots. The main distinguishing feature between the two species is the lack of fine webbing in infestations of the banana spider mite.

Immature Stages
The clear, very small spherical egg is followed by three immature stages that are similar to the adult stage.

Life history
The life cycle of both species can be completed in 1 to 4 weeks, depending on temperature and there are many overlapping generations each year. Populations increase rapidly in hot dry weather. All stages of the life cycle plus cast skins and dead mites occur together, mostly near the veins of the underside of leaves but with high numbers can extend over the whole leaf and fruit.

Distribution
Throughout Queensland.

Host Range
Two-spotted mite has a wide host range, consisting of broadleaved weeds, grasses, and crop plants such as strawberries, stone fruit, apples, pears, beans, tomatoes, cotton etc. and ornamentals such as roses.

Monarch

The Monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus (L.) can be found at Fermilab beginning in June and sometimes in great numbers in late summer, early fall. It is one of the few butterflies that migrates. The butterflies that travel south in the fall overwinter in the south. They may reproduce in the southern wintering grounds or enroute to the North in the spring. The butterflies you see in the summer at Fermilab are not the same individuals that left there the preceeding fall, but their offspring. Two or more summer generations may be produced in the North and then the fall generation returns to the same wintering grounds even though it is three or more generations removed from that of the previous winter. The principle wintering grounds are in Mexico, but some monarchs overwinter in Florida, Cuba or southern California.

Caddisfly Larva

What they look like:

The Caddisfly Larva (plural – larvae) are worm-like with three pairs of well-developed legs on the first three body segments and hooks on the last one. Caddisflies are related to butterflies and moths.

Size:
Up to 20 mm long.

Where they live:
They live in a wide range of environments from fast flowing streams to freshwater ponds. Their soft bodies are usually covered in a protective silky case. They use the hooks at the end of their abdomen to hold on to their cases. Some species do not live in cases, using their hooks instead to cling to the stream bed and also to drag themselves backwards to escape from predators.
What they eat:
The Caddisfly Larva eats algae and plants (living and dead). Some species feed on other insects and spin silky nets to capture their prey. Some eat the larvae of other Caddisfly species, while others scrape algae from stones or plants, or shred leaf litter.

Cotton Harlequin Bug

The Cotton Harlequin Bug is a member of the Jewel bug family (Scutelleridae) named for their bright metallic colouration. The males and females are different colours, with the females mostly orange and the males mostly blue-red.

The Cotton Harlequin Bug feeds on many species belonging to the hibiscus plant family (Malvaceae), including ornamental hibiscus species and cotton. It feeds mostly on young shoots, piercing the stems and sucking the sugar-rich juices intended for shoot growth. They are sometimes a minor pest of cotton and have been known to cause the introduction of a fungus, which rots the cotton boll. In gardens, they cause flower buds to drop prematurely.

This species is common during summer in Sydney gardens and among ornamental trees in parks. The females tend their eggs to ward off the hungry eyes of wasp parasites.

Little house fly

Little house fly is generally most numerous during the cooler spring and fall months. As temperatures rise in summer, populations of Fannia diminish. Adults are approximately two-thirds the size of the house fly and lack the house fly’s distinctive thoracic stripes. Fannia at rest hold their wings over the back more than the house fly does, creating a narrower V-shape to the wing outline. Flying clusters of male Fannia typically form in areas with still air such as breezeways and porch areas of residential homes, maintaining a position 5 or 6 feet above the ground. Strong air currents tend to disperse these male aggregations.

Little house flies are more reluctant to enter homes than are house flies; instead, they tend to congregate in outdoor areas such as patios, entryways, and garages. As temperatures decline, they seek cover in buildings or protective vegetation. They seldom land on human foods and are not considered a significant carrier of human disease agents. However, their habit of hovering at face height makes them annoying, though they move readily out of the way when approached.