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ARS Home » Plains Area » College Station, Texas » Southern Plains Agricultural Research Center » Insect Control and Cotton Disease Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #406481
Research Project: Novel Approaches for Management of Row Crop Pests and Continued Boll Weevil Eradication

Location: Insect Control and Cotton Disease Research

Title: First record of Nezara viridula (L.) type F color morph in the United States

Author
item Esquivel, Jesus

Submitted to: Southwestern Entomologist
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/13/2023
Publication Date: 12/14/2023
Citation: Esquivel, J.F. 2023. First record of Nezara viridula (L.) type F color morph in the United States. Southwestern Entomologist. 48(4):781-790. https://doi.org/10.3958/059.048.0403.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3958/059.048.0403

Interpretive Summary: The southern green stink bug is a perennial pest of cotton and other crops, affecting yield through direct damage and transmission of disease pathogens. As such, proper identification of the pest is critical for management decisions. Adults of southern green stink bugs are known to have variable types of coloration and this report establishes the presence of a previously unreported color type in the United States. This report also rectifies earlier reports related to the distribution of the various color types of southern green stink bugs. This information should prove useful to growers who may encounter this color morph, and to researchers and taxonomists specializing in the biology and ecology of the southern green stink bug.

Technical Abstract: The southern green stink bug, Nezara viridula (L.), occurs worldwide and can transmit disease-causing organisms in cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., and other high-value commodities. Variable coloration in adults has long been known with the common “entirely green” color morph occurring throughout its known range, including Central Texas in the United States. However, a female adult N. viridula with dorsal yellow coloration along the anterior margins of the lobes, anterior margin of pronotum, and connexivum was collected in Central Texas. This coloration pattern aligns with a different color morph - N. viridula type F – and this report constitutes the first record of this color morph in the United States. To date, adults of the species have been detected in 16 different forms / coloration. Also, this report reconciles some inconsistencies in earlier reports to clarify distribution of N. viridula type F. This information should prove useful to growers who may encounter this color morph and to researchers and taxonomists specializing in the biology and ecology of N. viridula.