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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Hilo, Hawaii » Daniel K. Inouye U.S. Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center » Tropical Crop and Commodity Protection Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #191452
Title: FIRST REPORT OF NEZARA VIRIDULA F. AURANTIACA (HEMIPTERA: PENTATOMIDAE) IN HAWAII

Author
item GOLDEN, MARY - U OF HAWAII
item Follett, Peter

Submitted to: Hawaiian Entomological Society Proceedings
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/10/2006
Publication Date: 12/31/2006
Citation: Golden M, P.A. Follett. 2006. First report of Nezara viridula f. aurantiaca (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) in Hawaii. Proc Hawaiian Entomol Soc 38:131–132.

Interpretive Summary: The southern green stink bug, Nezara viridula (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) has body color polymorphisms. One of the body color polymorphisms, N. viridula f. aurantiaca, is uniformly orange or yellow but is occasionally pink. In the summer of 2004 we collected 14 adult N. viridula f. aurantiaca in a patch of glycine (Neonotonia wightii) and castor bean (Ricinus communis) next to a macadamia orchard in Pahala on the island of Hawaii, and brought them into the laboratory for rearing. This was the first discovery of this color morph in Hawaii since N. viridula was accidentally introduced in 1961. Further studies have demonstrated that it is a simple, sex-linked recessive trait (Follett unpublished data) which had not been previously determined.

Technical Abstract: The southern green stink bug, Nezara viridula (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) has body color polymorphisms. Nine different color morphs are known which are derived from four basic types varying in the pattern of orange coloring (Kiritani and Yukawa 1963, Yukawa and Kiritani 1965, Kiritani 1970, Hokkanen 1986). While the color polymorphisms are manifest in both the larval and adult stages, previous studies have focused only on the more obvious adult traits. One of the body color polymorphisms, N. viridula f. aurantiaca, is uniformly orange or yellow but is occasionally pink. The common green form is N. viridula f. smaragdula. In June 2004 we collected two adult N. viridula f. aurantiaca in a patch of glycine (Neonotonia wightii) and castor bean (Ricinus communis) next to a macadamia orchard in Pahala on the island of Hawaii. During the next few months we collected another 12 f. aurantiaca from the same site and brought them into the laboratory for rearing. This was the first discovery of this color morph in Hawaii since N. viridula was accidentally introduced in 1961 (Davis 1964). Thirteen of the 14 field-collected f. aurantiaca were males suggesting this color polymorphism might be sex-linked. N. viridula f. aurantiaca collected in Brazil (n = 80) were 87.5% male (Panizzi personal communication). Further studies have demonstrated that it is a simple, sex-linked recesssive trait (Follett unpublished data) which had not been previously determined (Ohno and Alam 1992). [References cited available upon request]