Behavioral response of the brown marmorated stink bug (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) to semiochemicals deployed inside and outside anthropogenic structures during the overwintering period

Authors: Morrison, William - Rob; ACEBES-DORIA, ANGELITA - Virginia Tech; OGBURN, EMILY - North Carolina State University; KUHAR, THOMAS - Virginia Tech; WALGENBACH, JAMES - North Carolina State University; BERGH, J - Virginia Tech; NOTTINGHAM, LOUIS - Virginia Tech; DIMELGIO, ANTHONY - Virginia Tech; HIPKINS, PATRICIA - Virginia Tech; Leskey, Tracy

Submitted to: Journal of Economic Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/28/2017
Publication Date: 4/27/2017
Citation: Morrison III, W.R., Acebes-Doria, A., Ogburn, E., Kuhar, T.P., Walgenbach, J.F., Bergh, J.C., Nottingham, L., Dimelgio, A., Hipkins, P., Leskey, T.C. 2017. Behavioral response of the brown marmorated stink bug (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) to semiochemicals deployed inside and outside anthropogenic structures during the overwintering period. Journal of Economic Entomology. 110(3):1002-1009. doi:10.1093/jee/tox097.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/tox097

Interpretive Summary: The brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB), is an invasive species from Asia that damages many crops in the United States. In addition, it is also a nuisance pest for homeowners, businesses, and ports in the US, because adults like to overwinter in human-made structures during the fall, winter, and spring. As many as 20,000+ bugs have been documented in a single home over a three month period. There have been a variety of studies that have evaluated the use of traps for BMSB in agriculture, but no study has assessed the efficacy of pheromone-baited traps for use in homes as a monitoring or management tool. The results of a 2-year study using pheromone-baited traps for BMSB in heated and unheated structures, and counting the number of BMSB in associated spaces in structures, suggest that captures in the traps did not reflect the wild bug population in buildings during overwintering despite robust populations. BMSB does not begin to respond to its pheromone until after a 13.5 h critical day light length in the spring. This suggests that the currently available pheromone-baited traps are ineffective for surveillance or management of diapausing BMSB. This work contributes important knowledge about the capacity of BMSB to perceive its pheromone during overwintering, and the implications it has for homeowners.

Technical Abstract: 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 in the United States 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 homeowners during the overwintering period. Herein, we 1) assessed when in late winter and spring 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 homeowners with nuisance problems.