294 Invasive Stink Bugs and Related Species (Pentatomoidea)
5.1 Introduction
In October 2009, a number of homes in northeastern Georgia (GA), United States, were invaded by a
small round insect that previously had not been reported as a home invader. This insect was not only
a nuisance because it was aggregating on and entering houses but was noxious because it released an
unpleasant odor when disturbed. Homeowners, county agents, and pest control companies submitted
specimens to the University of Georgia (UGA) Homeowner Insect and Weed Diagnostics Laboratory
and to the UGA Urban Entomology Laboratory, both located on the UGA Griffin Campus, Griffin, GA.
The insects were true bugs (Heteroptera) and resembled native members of the family Scutelleridae
or related families and, as such, did not seem to warrant immediate concern. They subsequently were
identified as Megacopta cribraria in the family Plataspidae, a family not previously known from the
continental United States or the New World in general (Eger et al. 2010). In fact, the known distribution
for M. cribraria was India and much of Asia. One of the homes that had been invaded in Hoschton, GA
(Jackson County), was visited and thousands of bugs were active on the outside of the structure and on
surrounding vegetation. A search of the surrounding area revealed a field of kudzu, Pueraria montana
var. lobata (Willd.) Ohwi (Fabaceae), about 30 meters from the home. Adult bugs were abundant on
kudzu as were large numbers of nymphs, suggesting that the kudzu field was the source of the infestation
(Eger et al. 2010, Suiter et al. 2010).
A search of counties where these bugs were reported and neighboring counties was immediately initi-
ated by UGA Griffin scientists and revealed that the bugs were present in nine counties in north Georgia
(Suiter et al. 2010, Gardner et al. 2013a). Megacopta cribraria was found only on kudzu during this
search but was known from the literature to be a pest of a number of legume crops (Eger et al. 2010) and a
potential threat to soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill] (Fabaceae) production. In addition to being a home
invader and potential pest of legume crops, it also has been investigated as a potential biological control
agent for the invasive pest kudzu (Tayutivutikul and Yano 1990, Tayutivutikul and Kusigemati 1992a,
Sun et al. 2006, Imai et al. 2011). There were no records of the species intentionally being introduced
for biological control of kudzu, however. Thus, this apparently accidentally-introduced invasive bug has
the unusual potential to be a pest or a beneficial depending on where it occurs. It also has the potential to
interrupt trade with other countries. Gardner et al. (2013a) reported that cotton/polyester yarn shipments
to Honduras contained three live and three dead M. cribraria, resulting in a remediation program to
avoid trading sanctions. Gardner et al. (2013a) and Ruberson et al. (2013) also reported that this species,
especially the nymphs, can cause a rash and stain when crushed against the skin. Although the skin rash
and stain usually are not a problem, they can become a problem for people working in heavily infested
soybean or kudzu fields.
Common names for Megacopta cribraria in India and Asia are ‘bean plataspid’, ‘globular stink bug’,
and ‘lablab bug’. In the United States, the accepted common name is ‘kudzu bug’ (Entomological Society
of America 2015). How this bug arrived in the United States is unknown, but the initial infestations were
located some distance from sea ports and relatively close to the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International
5.6 Economic Impact .......................................................................................................................... 312
5.6.1 Urban/Nuisance Pest ........................................................................................................ 312
5.6.1.1 Pest Status in Urban Areas ............................................................................... 312
5.6.1.2 Control in Urban Areas ..................................................................................... 313
5.6.2 Crop Pest ........................................................................................................................... 316
5.6.2.1 Pest Status on Crops .......................................................................................... 316
5.6.2.2 Scouting and Control on Crops ......................................................................... 317
5.6.3 Biological Control Agent for Kudzu................................................................................. 318
5.6.4 International Trade ........................................................................................................... 319
5.7 Why Has Megacopta cribraria Been so Successful? .................................................................. 320
5.8 What Does the Future Hold? ........................................................................................................ 320
5.9 Acknowledgments ......................................................................................................................... 321
5.10 References Cited............................................................................................................................ 321