206 Invasive Stink Bugs and Related Species (Pentatomoidea)
3.1 Introduction
Bagrada hilaris (Burmeister), the painted bug (or bagrada bug), is known throughout the world as a seri-
ous pest of vegetable crops, particularly plants in the family Brassicaceae. Vegetable farmers in India
and Pakistan have been plagued by B. hilaris for over a century (Vekarta and Patel 1999, Sahito et al.
2010, Malik et al. 2012), and more recent problems have occurred throughout the rest of the Middle
East, Africa, Australia, southern Europe, and Southeast Asia (Lal and Singh 1993, Guarino et al. 2008,
Anonymous 2012).
Bagrada hilaris is among the most recent invasive pentatomoids to become established in North
America (Figure 3.1A). It first was identified in the New World in 2008 in California (Arakelian 2010,
2011; Garrison 2011) and, since that time, it has spread rapidly throughout the southwestern deserts of
California and Arizona, Central and Coastal California, and parts of New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas
(Dara 2014, Reed et al. 2013b). It recently has been detected in Hawaii (Matsunaga 2014), northern
Mexico (Sánchez-Peña 2014), and Chile (Faúndez et al. 2016). In these regions, this bug has caused (or
has the potential to cause) economic losses to large scale cole crops producers and to small farm and
organic growers.
The rapid range expansion of Bagrada hilaris in the New World, combined with the continuing pest
status and expansion in the Old World, has generated considerable research efforts, particularly aimed at
mitigating losses in agriculture. Current and recent studies are providing useful information that is being
adopted into integrated pest management programs (IPM), yet there still is a heavy reliance on repeated
applications of broad-spectrum insecticides in conventional agriculture. Organic producers have limited
control strategies, and both organic and conventional growers are changing their growing practices due
3.4 General Biology ............................................................................................................................ 210
3.4.1 Life History ...................................................................................................................... 210
3.4.2 Host Plants ........................................................................................................................ 213
3.5 Agricultural Impacts ..................................................................................................................... 218
3.5.1 Feeding and Damage ........................................................................................................ 218
3.5.2 Old World ......................................................................................................................... 219
3.5.3 North America ................................................................................................................. 220
3.6 Management ................................................................................................................................. 222
3.6.1 Conventional Cropping Systems ..................................................................................... 222
3.6.1.1 Sampling/Monitoring ...................................................................................... 222
3.6.1.2 Cultural Control ............................................................................................... 222
3.6.1.3 Action Thresholds ............................................................................................ 223
3.6.1.4 Chemical Control ............................................................................................. 223
3.6.2 Organic Cropping Systems .............................................................................................. 224
3.6.2.1 Planting Date and Crop Selection .................................................................... 224
3.6.2.2 Trap Cropping .................................................................................................. 225
3.6.2.3 Sanitation (Clean Culture) ............................................................................... 225
3.6.2.4 Crop Isolation ................................................................................................... 225
3.6.2.5 Mechanical Control and Exclusion Techniques ............................................... 226
3.6.2.6 Organic Insecticides......................................................................................... 226
3.6.3 Natural Enemies .............................................................................................................. 226
3.6.3.1 Parasitoids ........................................................................................................ 226
3.6.3.2 Predators .......................................................................................................... 228
3.6.3.3 Other Natural Enemies .................................................................................... 228
3.6.3.4 Native Natural Enemies ................................................................................... 228
3.6.3.5 Classical Biological Control ............................................................................ 229
3.7 Future Outlook ..............................................................................................................................231
3.8 Acknowledgments .........................................................................................................................231
3.9 References Cited........................................................................................................................... 232