page_title: Brown marmorated stink bug
section_title: Agricultural effects
hierarchical_section_title: Brown marmorated stink bug / In North America / Agricultural effects
caption_attribution_description: English: Effects of the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug
context_page_description: The brown marmorated stink bug is an insect in the family Pentatomidae, native to China, Japan, the Korean Peninsula, and Taiwan. In September 1998 it was collected in Allentown, Pennsylvania, where it is believed to have been accidentally introduced. The nymphs and adults of the brown marmorated stink bug feed on over 100 species of plants, including many agricultural crops, and by 2010–11 had become a season-long pest in orchards in the Eastern United States. In 2010, in the Mid-Atlantic United States, $37 million in apple crops were lost, and some stone fruit growers lost more than 90% of their crops. It is now established in many parts of North America, and has recently become established in Europe and South America.
context_section_description: The brown marmorated stink bug is a serious agricultural pest that has been readily causing damage to crops across the Eastern United States. They feed on a wide array of plants including apples, apricots, Asian pears, cherries, corn, grapes, lima beans, peaches, peppers, tomatoes, and soybeans. This makes them extremely versatile, as they do not require a specific plant on which to feed. To obtain their food, stink bugs use their stylets to pierce the plant tissue to extract the plant fluids. In doing so, the plant loses necessary fluids, which can lead to deformation of seeds, destruction of seeds, destruction of fruiting structures, delayed plant maturation, and increased vulnerability to harmful pathogens. While harvesting the plant's juices, the stink bug injects saliva into the plant, creating a dimpling of the fruit's surface and rotting of the material underneath.
  The most common signs of stink bug damage are pitting and scarring of the fruit, leaf destruction, and a mealy texture to the harvested fruits and vegetables. In most cases, the signs of stink bug damage makes the plant unsuitable for sale in the market, as the insides are usually rotten. In field crops such as corn and soybeans, the damage may not be as evident as the damage seen in fruit plants. When stink bugs feed on corn, they go through the husk before eating the kernels, hiding the damage until the husks are removed during harvesting. The same damage is seen in soybeans, as the stink bug goes through the seed pods to acquire the juices of the seeds. One visual cue of stink-bug damage to soybean crops is the "stay green" effect, where damaged soybean plants stay green late into season, while other plants in the field die off normally. One can usually tell that a field of crops is infected because stink bugs are known for the "edge effect", in which they tend to infest crops 30–40 ft from the edge of the field. Farmers who suspect having stink bugs in their crops should contact their respective departments of agriculture for information on how to manage the infestation and possible ways to prevent future incidences.
caption: Effects of the brown marmorated stink bug (May 2013)
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