It's the time of year that the Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs (B.M.S.B.) are looking to find somewhere warm that they can over winter. Of course our home is one of their favorite choices for I find them crawling around the house and in our RV.
This one was bold enough to walk in as I had the door open calling in one of our dogs. I doubt that it had any idea of what was in store for it.! Between now and next spring I will have found dozens of them get in however I could not resist adding yet one more to my collection of several.
"Brown marmorated stink bug feeds on a wide variety of host plants, including a variety of fruits (e.g., apples, stone fruits including peaches and apricots, figs, mulberries, citrus fruits and persimmons), crops (e.g., beans, corn, tomatoes and soybeans) and many ornamental plants and weeds. Feeding on tree fruits such as apple results in a characteristic distortion referred to as βcat facing," that renders the fruit unmarketable as a fresh product. Feeding in beans and okra may cause scarred, sunken areas and deformed pods, while feeding on fleshy fruit, such as tomatoes and peppers, can produce spongy areas and internal tissue damage."
They are native to Asia and they have found their way here quite some time ago and they are a real threat to agriculture and home gardens. They use their proboscis to pierce the fruit and the inject it with enzymes that turn it into a soup that they can suck up for as a "True Bug" they do not have conventional chewing or biting mouth parts.
I've attached a few photos of the damage they do and the next time you bite into a piece of fruit and find that "brown spot" in it that may just be where a stink bug was enjoying it before you.
We get them here as well. The information you provided is interesting and the colorfulness of the SB is amazing relative to what I've seen. Superb stack Gary.
ecobin wrote:
We get them here as well. The information you provided is interesting and the colorfulness of the SB is amazing relative to what I've seen. Superb stack Gary.
Thanks, Elliott. I've been experimenting and tweaking for the past few years now and I believe that I am starting to make some headway now.
Good shots - nasty buggers we have a lot of them around / on the house.
quixdraw wrote:
Good shots - nasty buggers we have a lot of them around / on the house.
Thanks, Quixdraw. The darn things appear to be everywhere. They are possibly the most frequent species (other than the darn chiggers) that I come across.
kpmac wrote:
Excellent, sippy.
Thanks, Kpmac. Although they are a pain thankfully they are not a numerous as the "Love Bugs" that swarm down your way.
Box Elder bugs one place I lived - don't think they did harm, but many hundreds on my garage doors. Spraying soap solution a solution!
Wow! I really like this one of the stink bug.
quixdraw wrote:
Box Elder bugs one place I lived - don't think they did harm, but many hundreds on my garage doors. Spraying soap solution a solution!
In the Chicago area some years I had them by the hundreds of thousands. Stocked up on Home Defense from Menards but now I don't need it since I moved.
sippyjug104 wrote:
Thanks, Quixdraw. The darn things appear to be everywhere. They are possibly the most frequent species (other than the darn chiggers) that I come across.
Sippy, I will not get in any weeds or tall grass in the Summer because of chiggers. I made that mistake about 3 or 4 years ago and paid dearly.
JRiepe wrote:
Wow! I really like this one of the stink bug.
Thanks, They are overly abundant here so I always have plenty to choose from for a session.
JRiepe wrote:
Sippy, I will not get in any weeds or tall grass in the Summer because of chiggers. I made that mistake about 3 or 4 years ago and paid dearly.
There has always been a debate over the existence of Heaven and Hell however I know that Hell exists for chiggers are the demons of the spawn of the Devil as his way of tormenting mankind.
Thanks, Napabob. Please post updates on the cluster of your baby jumpers when you have an opportunity. I always enjoy seeing these adorable creatures.
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