Megacopta cribraria ( F.) 313
The nuisance aspect of the bug has several origins, including its flying, sometimes in large numbers,
around the outside of homes and aggregating on walls, doors, entryways, on and behind downspouts,
fascia boards, and in cracks and crevices of walls. The excessively large numbers of these flying and
aggregating bugs bring about the primary nuisance aspect of the bug. Such large numbers have altered
outdoor recreational activities in the fall. The distinctive odor produced by the bug also adds to its nui-
sance status. More seriously, the compound(s) responsible for the bug’s odor turns exposed human skin
yellow, and some people have complained of adverse reactions from direct skin exposure to the chemical
and a burning sensation when exposure is excessive (Ruberson et al. 2013). Finally, bugs often are so
numerous that aggregations are found resting on all forms of non-host vegetation, leaving homeown-
ers with the sense that the bug’s host range is exhaustive. Incidental, large aggregations of Megacopta
cribraria are found on azalea, pine, and tomato, and numerous other non-host trees and plants, prompt-
ing homeowners to believe, incorrectly, that the bugs have a wide host range that includes popular orna-
mental and food plants and even trees.
As with other seasonal, nuisance pests, such as the brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys,
and the multicolored Asian lady beetle, Harmonia axyridis (Pallas) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), the nui-
sance period of Megacopta cribraria is bimodal (Zhang et al. 2012). In the fall, some nuisance pests, trig-
gered by declining temperature and day length, seek secluded sites where they spend the winter months
protected from low temperatures. This behavior also apparently occurs with M. cribraria. The adults of
the second generation occur in the fall and are numerous on kudzu at the beginning of its senescence.
Concurrently, day length and temperature decrease, and the adults begin to search for overwintering
sites such as cracks and crevices under tree bark, in leaf litter, and similar secluded locations. Potential
overwintering sites include those on and around structures, resulting in problematic nuisance pest status
for M. cribraria. This bug’s presence was detected for the first time in north Georgia when large numbers
exhibited this fall overwintering behavior. The following spring, as temperatures increased, overwin-
tered adults became active and began to search for host plants, primarily kudzu. Because bugs often are
active in Georgia (February and March) well-before kudzu begins to grow (April), they are a nuisance in
the spring just as they were in the fall. As food sources become available, nuisance bug problems tend to
decline as bugs find and infest kudzu in April and May and soybeans in June and July.
Megacopta cribraria especially gravitates towards light-colored surfaces. Horn and Hanula (2011)
caught significantly more adults in bucket traps with white boards than in bucket traps “baited” with any
other color. Anecdotally, in the fall when bugs begin to fly from kudzu patches to homes, they are known
to gravitate and collect non-randomly on white surfaces, often metal downspouts and fascia boards at
high points on structures. Additionally, bugs have been found on the 30th and 40th floor of high rises in
downtown Atlanta, Georgia (Kyle Jordan, personal communication; Wayne A. Gardner, personal obser-
vation) and can be so numerous that they threaten the normal function of intake fans on large commercial
buildings (Keith Daniels, personal communication). Clearly, this bug is a nuisance pest to homeowners,
but in certain commercial situations may become a non-agricultural economic pest.
5.6.1.2 Control in Urban Areas
Megacopta cribraria is a classic seasonal, bi-modal nuisance pest, much like Halyomorpha halys and
Harmonia axyridis. It is a pest in the spring and fall. Control of this bug on and around structures has
proven frustrating for both homeowners and pest management professionals. Several factors combine
to make it a major nuisance pest and one that is difficult to control, given the pest’s biology and a pest
management professional’s limitations on product use and regulatory policy.
In January 2013, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, in response to mounting evi-
dence of water contamination from use of pyrethroid insecticides in the urban environment (Domagalski
et al. 2010, Jiang et al. 2012), attempted “to reduce ecological exposure from residential uses of pyre-
throid and pyrethrin products” by proposing (2009) and then adopting (January 2013) an initiative to
revise guidelines for pyrethroid- and pyrethrin-based pesticide products used in non-agricultural outdoor
settings (United States Environmental Protection Agency 2013). The label changes specifically reduced
non-agricultural outdoor use patterns for pyrethroids and pyrethrins to minimize contamination of
water. For example, treatments to structural areas above impervious surfaces, such as driveways, where