744 Invasive Stink Bugs and Related Species (Pentatomoidea)
early subsistence agriculture, manual removal of pests was part of the production of cotton (Bottrell and
Adkisson 1977). Cultural practices for control of rice borers and other insects in rice were and continue
to be used in Asia (Kiritani 1979). When combinations of insecticides, removal of weed hosts, and hand-
picking of Old World bollworm (Helicoverpa armigera Hübner) are used in chickpea in Asia, effective
control is achieved and yields are maximized (Wakil et al. 2009). In the United States, handpicking of
insects continues to be in the recent recommendations for control of pests in home gardens producing
vegetables (Sagers 2005). The harlequin bug, Murgantia histrionica (Hahn), and the Bagrada bug (or
painted bug), Bagrada hilaris (Burmeister), are pests in home gardens and commercial operations of
vegetable production, and guidelines for management include hand removal of these stink bug species as
a cultural control technique (Bealmear et al. 2013, Kemble et al. 2015).
16.3.1.3 Reproductive Control
Reproductive pest control is a specialized pest management strategy whereby individuals are prevented
from finding each other to mate, or individuals are genetically altered and rendered sterile before being
released into the environment to mate with wild individuals. Due to inability to mate or production of
sterile eggs, the pest populations decrease over time.
16.3.1.3.1 Sterilization Strategies
Partial or complete genetic sterilization of insects can be accomplished using ionizing radiation, che-
mosterilants, or RNA interference (RNAi). The use of ionizing radiation and chemosterilants has been
studied for many years across taxa, whereas gene silencing via RNAi is still in its infancy as evidenced
by the fact that no RNAi technologies currently are available commercially. RNAi is used to suppress
expression of target genes by post-transcriptional regulation. This technology has been shown to produce
spermless males of Anopheles gambiae Giles that mate successfully with females that then lay sterile
eggs (Thailayil et al. 2011). A few other (of many) examples of the unique RNAi strategies include release
of individuals that carry a dominant female-killing allele (Schliekelman and Gould 2000), interference
with salivary secretions necessary for feeding (Araujo et al. 2006), interference with genes expressed in
the midgut (Ghanim et al. 2007), and suppression of genes that govern an insect’s circadian clock (Ikeno
et al. 2013). Deployment of a transgenic corn variety that incorporates RNAi for pest management of
Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte appears to be the most promising candidate for a commercial
release of this technology (Baum et al. 2007, Murugesan and Siegfried 2012).
16.3.1.3.1.1 Chemosterilization Chemosterilants are compounds that cause a treated organism to
become irreversibly sterile. In agriculture, chemosterilants are used to reduce pest populations and associ-
ated damage to a particular commodity. Using Oncopeltus fasciatus (Dallas) as a model, Economopoulos
and Gordan (1971) used tretamine to sterilize 90% of the males released into a confined population.
This treatment caused an immediate reduction in viable eggs produced by females that mated with the
sterilized males, but the effect was short lived and became negligible after only 20 days. More recently,
insect growth regulators have been used widely as chemosterilants to disrupt the development of imma-
ture life stages by interfering with the endocrine mechanism. Some insect growth regulators, includ-
ing pyriproxifen and triflumuron, have been used to sterilize Glossina morsitans morsitans Westwood
(Hargrove and Langley 1990, Langley 1995). Similarly, cyromazine, diflubenzuron, and pyriproxyfen
are effective against Musca domestica L. (Kocisova et al. 2004). Casana-Giner et al. (1999) reported that
treatment of adults with the chitin synthesis inhibitor lufenuron prevented egg hatch in Ceratitis capitata
(Wiedemann) and females that mated with lufenuron-treated males deposited nonviable eggs. Further,
field deployment of a bait gel laced with lufenuron reduced C. capitata populations continuously over a
4-year period (Navarro-Llopis et al. 2007).
16.3.1.3.1.2 Radiation Ionizing radiation has been used in an entomological context for pest manage-
ment programs that utilize the sterile insect technique, quarantine purposes (disinfestation of commodi-
ties at ports of entry), and for research projects on physiological interactions between living organisms.