Behavioral Response of the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) to Semiochemicals Deployed Inside and Outside Anthropogenic Structures During the Overwintering Period

Abstract

The brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys (Stål), is an invasive species from Asia capable of causing severe agricultural damage. It can also be a nuisance pest when it enters and exits anthropogenic overwintering sites. In recent years, pheromone lures and traps for H. halys have been developed and used to monitor populations in field studies. To date, no study has investigated the applicability of these monitoring tools for use indoors by building residents during the overwintering period. Herein, we 1) assessed when in late winter (diapause) and spring (postdiapause) H. halys begins to respond to its pheromone (10,11-epoxy-1-bisabolen-3-ol), 2) evaluated whether pheromone-based tools can be used reliably for monitoring H. halys adults in unheated and heated buildings, and 3) elucidated the potential for indoor management using pheromone-baited traps. A 2-yr trapping study suggested that H. halys began to respond reliably to pheromone-baited traps after a critical photoperiod of 13.5 h in the spring. Captures before that point were not correlated with visual counts of bugs in buildings despite robust populations, suggesting currently available pheromone-baited traps were ineffective for surveillance of diapausing H. halys. Finally, because baited traps captured only 8-20% of the adult H. halys known to be present per location, they were not an effective indoor management tool for overwintering H. halys. Our study contributes important knowledge about the capacity of H. halys to perceive its pheromone during overwintering, and the ramifications thereof for building residents with nuisance problems.

Presence of the invasive brown marmorated stink bug Halyomorpha halys (Stål) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) on home exteriors during the autumn dispersal period: Results generated by citizen scientists

“…Ultimately, homeowners seeking to eliminate adults from entering homes may use physical exclusion tactics such as taping, screening and caulking to reduce indoor infestations (Day et al ., ; Jacobs, ; UMDHGIC, ; UMD, ; Bergh & Quinn, ). These are especially important given that recent research has indicated that pheromone‐based traps are ineffective at removing overwintering H. halys inside human‐made structures (Morrison III et al ., ). Natural enemies at overwintering sites, including spiders (Morrison III et al ., ), may increase H. halys mortality to some extent, although their combined effects do not provide adequate control of this problem.…”

Monitoring and Biosurveillance Tools for the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug, Halyomorpha halys (Stål) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae)

“…For example, Nixon et al [ 27 ] explored the possibility of using volatile sampling from diapausing H. halys in freight as a means to detect H. halys prior to arrival. While in transit, it is likely that H. halys may not respond to baited pheromone traps, as pheromone-baited traps were not effective in capturing diapausing H. halys [ 28 ]. When combined with H. halys aggregation pheromone and MDT, clear sticky traps deployed in trees were used to successfully trap adults and nymphs in six European countries and Maryland, USA during the peak H. halys season [ 29 ].…”

Attraction of Halyomorpha halys (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) haplotypes in North America and Europe to baited traps

“…unpublished data). However, pheromone-baited traps are not attractive to H. halys during its diapause period 43 , and specific host plant volatiles do not appear to increase attractiveness of existing lures in the field 44 .…”