How do I tell a good stink bug from a bad one?

11 years ago

Someone told me if their shoulders were rounded it was a good bug. Geez! I can't get that close to one before it goes away. I have brown and green ones. Which ones are the good ones?? TIA!!

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Comments (5)

digdirt2
11 years ago
Far as I know there are NO good stink bugs. All 3 forms/colors are considered pests. But they are sometimes confused with assassin bugs which are good guys and do have round, not shield shaped, shoulders and longer bodies.

Assassin bug pics

Stink bug pics

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Stink bugs
tcstoehr
11 years ago
Here's some good info:
http://pmtp.wsu.edu/BMSB.html#brown_SB
Yes, the serrated shoulders indicate one of the "good" stink bug species at least in the Pacific Northwest. They also supposedly have less distinct banding of the antennae and less distinct checker-boarding of the abdomen edges.
The native species are only considered pests in that they may annoy you by getting into your house in the winter, otherwise they are no problem. The new Brown Marmorated Stink Bug is 10 times worse in that respect, and it loves my thornless blackberries too.
Note the serrated shoulders (right behind the eyeballs) on these fine fellows:
http://bugguide.net/node/view/348093
http://bugguide.net/node/view/284507

I would happily share my house with these guys than share my blackberry patch the BMSB.
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Looking for stink bug traps leads one to some fascinating information about these critters. One reason pheromone attractants don't really work very well is that though they're produced by males to attract females, this alone isn't enough to lure a stinkbug into a trap. They also need a vibrational song that is then transmitted through the plant tissue to help the stinkbugs find each other! How strange nature is. PDF report on Red-Shouldered Stink Bugs, and this excerpt: Substrate-borne vibrational signals. It has been known for some time that stink bugs produce substrate-borne vibrational signals for communication at short range... These signals are generated with a tymbal organ that stretches across the dorsal surface under the elytra. The vibrations are transmitted into the plant stem through the insectÂs legs, and are propagated along the plant as bending waves. The signals are detected by vibration sensors in the legs of the receiving insect. Both males and females appear to produce several different vibrational songs. To locate each other once on the same plant, males and females produce a duet of calling songs, with one or both insects following the signals to their sources. Once at close range or having contacted each other, the insects may begin producing courtship songs. There is virtually no airborne sound associated with these signals, and their primary transmission medium is clearly the plant substrate. Because these signals are transmitted through the plant, they may be less prone to eavesdropping by parasitoids and predators than a more widely dispersed airborne acoustic signal. Insects may be attracted to the vicinity of a trap by the pheromone, but if the shorter-range vibrational signals are not present, the insects may not move into the trap towards the pheromone source. This may explain observations by several researchers of bugs clustered in the vicinity of pheromone traps, but with few bugs actually in the traps...
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zzackey
Original Author
11 years ago
My stinkers aren't as pretty as yours! They are just plain brown with brown legs. There are only a few of them, so far. They haven't gotten inside the house! Thank God! I've seen pictures and heard horror stories about that!!
nc_crn
11 years ago
"Kudzu bugs" are now moving into the South-East US...growing exponentially the past few years.

They look like regular brown "stink bugs" (and smell like them when crushed) with different shell coloring (white/beige with a lot of black dots/lines all over their shell making up a huge part of their coloration) and they are more rounded than pointy on the hind end.

They are absolutely plague-like on soy bean plantings...as well as other plantings. They are huge feeders.

Thanks to "wild" kudzu all over the place, it seems they're not going away any time soon.

This post was edited by nc-crn on Mon, Apr 22, 13 at 17:51
zzackey
Original Author
11 years ago
I remember seeing Kudzu vines when we drive on 95 through the Carolinas. We don't have that here. Mostly millions of acres of pine trees. Native and tree farms for harvesting for pine products. I was informed about that bug months ago in master gardening. I will keep my eyes open for it though. Thanks, digdirt for the bug links. I am familiar with assassin bugs, although I might have killed some of their instars thinking they were leaf footed bugs.

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How do I tell a good stink bug from a bad one?

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How do I tell a good stink bug from a bad one?

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digdirt2

tcstoehr

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