Australian Stonefruit Grower Magazine Issue 4 April 2017 | Page 13

News
Photo courtesy wikimdia commons
Stink bug
alert
NZ hotel cleaners
after discovering praised
pest
THREE m
Brown marmorated stink bug
(BMSB) Halyomorpha halys has
been spotted in a New Zealand
hotel. Which is too close for
comfort for Australian orchardists.
otel cleane
after spotting the rs have been hailed as heroes
br
which is a pest with own marmorated stink bug,
the potential to caus
e
damage to New Ze
aland's horticulture widespread
indu
James Trevelyan,
the managing di stry.
Trevelyan's Pack
& Cool Ltd, and rector of
a long-time
kiwifruit grower
in
found the brown m Te Puke, said the cleaners
ar
discoveries in Chr morated stink bug in separate
istchurch, Whitiang
Plymouth earlier th
a and New
is
Investigations by year.
th
Industries conclude e Ministry for Primary
d the bugs hitch-hi
luggage from pred
ominately Americ ked here in
an visitors.
S
ome pests can sneak through quarantine and it might
not always be imported products that are to blame but
holidaying tourists.
The brown marmorated stink bug is a particularly
difficult pest to manage. Unusually for stink bugs, the
- NZ Herald
adults commonly invade structures and homes during
winter, sometimes in large numbers. There they search for
somewhere to hibernate. Suitable places include shipping
containers, packing materials and, presumably, suitcases in fruit. Feeding causes shallow dimples on the outside
people’s homes and in hotels. of fruit, with white or brown necrotic areas just under the
Once the bugs warm up they become active – and
skin. Attacks during early season have the greatest impact,
hungry. Like other bugs they are sap-suckers and can feed with injuries extending right into the core of the fruit 2 .
on a very large range of hosts. The adults are strong fliers, BMSB invasions have caused complete loss in USA
able to travel more than 2km per day, while nymphs walk orchards in the Mid Atlantic region. This clearly a pest we
and climb, covering 20m across grass in less than five don’t want in Australia.
hours .
Perhaps – like in NZ – we should also be training our
1
Originally from Asia, during the last 20 years BMSB
hotel cleaning staff in how to spot these small, brown, and
has spread to many parts of Europe and throughout North stinky invaders.
America. 1 
Whereas other stink bugs feed on leaves and stems,
both nymph and adult BMSB feed directly on orchard
summerfruit.com.au
Lee D.-H, Nielsen AL, Leskey TC. 2014. Dispersal capacity and behavior of nymphal stages of Halyomor-
pha halys evaluated under laboratory and field conditions. J. Insect Behav. 27:639-651.
2 
Acebes-Doria A, Leskey TC, Bergh JC. 2016. Injury to apples and peaches at harvest from feeding by
Halyomorpha halys nymphs early and late in the season. Crop Prot. 89:58-65.
April 2017 | Australian Stonefruit Grower
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