750 Invasive Stink Bugs and Related Species (Pentatomoidea)
16.3.1.7.1 Agricultural IPM
Most of the aforementioned control strategies (cultural, physical/mechanical, reproductive, regulatory,
chemical, and biological) can be used in agricultural IPM programs to manage pestiferous hemipterans.
Although chemical control of pentatomids in the agricultural setting is predominant, other strategies can
be used successfully, along with insecticides, to manage stink bugs in crops.
16.3.1.7.1.1 Stink Bug Control Programs for Selected Crops
16.3.1.7.1.1.1 Cotton Programs for controlling economically important hemipterans in cropping
systems can and do recommend various IPM strategies for managing insect pests. For example, in
cotton, important stink bugs are controlled with insecticides after economic thresholds are met or
exceeded (chemical control), but problems with the pest group can be alleviated to some degree if
the crop is planted early (cultural control) or not adjacent to a crop, such as peanuts, associated with
increased levels of injury from stink bugs (cultural control) (Tillman et al. 2009, Reay-Jones et al.
2010). Collaborative research efforts have been devoted to the establishment of treatment thresholds
(chemical control) for stink bugs in cotton (Greene et al. 2001, 2009; Herbert et al. 2009), primarily
because of the low-insecticide environment afforded by the widespread adoption of transgenic technol-
ogy using genes/proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) kurstaki Berliner (see “Genetically Modified
Organisms and Plant-Incorporated Proteins” [see Sections 16.4.2 and 16.4.2.1] below). Because
major lepidopteran pests currently are controlled by the in-plant, toxic proteins produced by Bt cot-
ton (genetic control-advanced HPR), far fewer insecticides are used in the modern crop. This greatly
reduces the coincidental control of stink bugs observed before Bt technology when most insecticide
applications were applied for major lepidopteran pests, such as Heliothis virescens (F.) and Helicoverpa
zea. By delaying use of insecticides in cotton until absolutely necessary, populations of natural enemies
(primarily predaceous and parasitic arthropods) are allowed to build and help regulate populations
of pests (biological control-conservation) until chemical control is justified. Also, habitats that pro-
mote population development of natural enemies can be planted near cotton or other crops of interest
( biological-conservation and cultural control) (Landis et al. 2000). Recent research has indicated that
natural and artificial barriers (physical/mechanical control) might deter stink bug movement into cotton
(Tillman 2014).
16.3.1.7.1.1.2 Fruit and Vegetable Crops The importance of stink bugs as pests of fruit and veg-
etable crops has increased substantially during the past decade due to changes in pest management
programs used in these crops and the establishment and spread of several invasive species. Regulatory
actions associated with the Food Quality Protection Act resulted in the cancellation of many older broad-
spectrum insecticides (i.e., organophosphates, carbamates, organochlorines), several of which provided
excellent stink bug control. Grower adoption of reduced-risk pest management programs that rely on
narrow-spectrum insecticides with non-insecticide strategies such as pheromone-based mating disrup-
tion (Agnello et al. 2008) has elevated the importance of “non-targeted” pests such as stink bugs (Varela
et al. 2011).
Stink bugs are potential pests of many fruit and vegetable crops, but the most severely affected in
North America include stone and pome fruits, fruiting vegetables, and brassicas. Although there is a
diversity of stink bug species that are potential pests of these crops (Table 16.1), those species that are the
most common, based on the frequency of reports in the literature, are Euschistus servus, E. conspersus
Uhler, Chinavia hilaris (Say), Murgantia histrionica, and Nezara viridula. In addition, two recently
established invasive species, the polyphagous Halyomorpha halys (Hoebeke and Carter 2003, Leskey
et al. 2012a) and Bagrada hilaris that attacks brassicas in the southwestern United States (Palumbo and
Natwick 2010), have become major concerns.
16.3.1.7.1.1.2.1 Damage Damage caused by stink bugs to fruit and vegetable crops is primar-
ily cosmetic in nature and results in a downgrading or culling of fruit. It often is expressed as a surface
and/or subsurface discoloration around the area where the bug inserted its proboscis when feeding.