I am not a fan of the term ”stink bug”, it has negative connotations and is used incorrectly in most cases, shield bug may be a better term as many peoples insect identification is mediocre. What people refer to as a “stink bug” actually comprises 15 different types.

Pentatomidae is a family of insects belonging to the order Hemiptera, generally called shield bugs or stink bugs. Pentatomidae is the largest family in the superfamily Pentatomoidea, and contains around 900 genera and over 4700 species.

Stink Bug Basics

• An invasive insect unintentionally brought over from Asia, the brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) poses a significant risk to specialty crop growers.

Actually, they do “stink” in the amount of damage they have done to our ecosystem.

What do Stink Bugs Eat?[1]

• Stink bugs are basically herbivorous.
  • They have sucking and piercing mouthparts, which they use while feeding on a number of fruits and crops. They suck juice from fruits and cause significant damage to the plants.
  • Their major hosts are birch, serviceberry, catalpa, butterfly bush, pecan, redbud, hackberry, pepper, dogwood, citrus, cucumber, tomato, sunflower, apple, pear, plum, and grape. They render damage to the plants in multiple ways: create necrotic areas on the surface of fruits, injure seeds, or even transfer plant-pathogens.

From left to right, four nymphal stages of BMSB (second through fifth instar), adult male, and adult female. Photo by W. Hershberger

How Stink Bugs Got their Name.

• Stink bugs excrete offensive smelling liquid from thorax glands that are placed in between the first and second pair of legs. When they are molested or attacked by predators, they produce this liquid defensively in order to put off a potential threat to their lives. Usually, they are not considered to be pests for they do not render significant loss to plants, however, when they make a larger group, they may become considerable pests.

It is worth mentioning here that all stink bugs have sucking mouthparts and broad bodies, but still there are variations in their body colorings. On account of this distinction they are further divided into fifteen different species. Among them, brown stink bugs and green stink bugs are the most famous types.

Here is what I find really annoying about these suckers.

• They have a distinct characteristic of invading your home.
  • The Brown marmorated stink bugs go into a state of hibernation in winter seasons and invade homes or structures where the temperature does not fall critically. Their hideouts include under siding, windows and door frames.

Finally where in the US they are most prevalent as of 03/2020.

Pentatomidae - Wikipedia

UW Insect Diagnostic Lab - Wisconsin Insect Identification

Stink Bug Basics

Scientific Publications

Life Stages - StopBMSB.org

http://www.stopbmsb.org/stopBMSB/assets/File/BMSB-map.pdf

Footnotes