Phytophagous stink bugs (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) are important pests of many crops, feeding mostly on seeds and immature fruits. During feeding they introduce their stylets to remove the cells' contents. The resulting damage includes drop and/or malformation of seeds and fruits. As stink bugs are generally polyphagous, they feed on cultivated and uncultivated plants; consequently, wild host plants play an important role in the increase in population levels of agricultural pest species. These plants are important food resources for development of nymphs and reproduction of adults. Because these bugs are multivoltine and feed in general on temporarily restricted food plants, host-switching from food plants of nymphs to those of adults is common and has varying effects on adult performance depending on the quality of the foods involved. Although polyphagous, local populations of many pentatomid species may show specific feeding habits, restricting their host range to fewer plant species. The knowledge of host plant sequences, including cultivated and uncultivated hosts, and the use of wild hosts as trap plants will improve management of pest species. Finally, future research should focus on determining which plants are preferably used by stink bugs, how they affect insect performance, at what rate populations increase on these plants, and how effective natural enemies are at this time.

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The integrated pest management (IPM) of soybean developed and implemented in Brazil was one of the most successful programs of pest management in the world. Established during the 1970s, it showed a tremendous level of adoption by growers, decreasing the amount of insecticide use by over 50%. It included outstanding approaches of field scouting and decision making, considering the economic injury levels (EILs) for the major pests. Two main biological control programs were highly important to support the soybean IPM program in Brazil, i.e., the use of a NPVAg to control the major defoliator, the velvet bean caterpillar, Anticarsia gemmatalis Hübner, and the use of egg parasitoids against the seed-sucking stink bugs, in particular, the southern green stink bug, Nezara viridula (L.). These two biological control programs plus pests scouting, and the use of more selective insecticides considering the EILs supported the IPM program through the 1980s and 1990s. With the change in the landscape, with the adoption of the no-tillage cultivation system and the introduction of more intense multiple cropping, and with the lower input to divulge and adapt the IPM program to this new reality, the program started to decline during the years 2000s. Nowadays, soybean IPM is almost a forgotten control technology. In this mini-review article, suggestions are made to possibly revive and adapt the soybean IPM to contemporary time.

Herein we discuss the interactions of selected species of phytophagous stink bug observed on leguminous (Fabaceae) crops in the Neotropics (Neotropical Region) with their associated plants. We included the following pentatomid species: Nezara viridula (L.), Piezodorus guildinii (Westwood), Euschistus heros (F.), Edessa meditabunda (F.), Dichelops furcatus (F.), Dichelops melacanthus (Dallas), and Thyanta perditor (F.). Based on a literature review, a list of plants on which these stink bug species were intercepted is included, indicating the reproductive hosts, i.e., plants on which bug can complete development, and incidental records, i.e., plants on which bugs are found occasionally. The change in feeding habits (from fruits/seeds of preferred host plants) to less preferred vegetative structures (stems/leaves of less preferred associated plants) for feeding or shelter, due to change in the landscape by intense multiple cropping and no-tillage cultivation systems is discussed.