Fauna Friday - Fun Fact Its the time of year when the uninvited guests start showing up at the house. No, I dont mean the relatives for the holidays! Im talking about the Fall Bug Invasion. A lot of insects hibernate over the winter, and they are looking for somewhere safe and relatively warm. Houses are somewhat irresistible to them, and if the structure has any kind of small gaps, as most do, the bugs will find a way in. In New Hampshire, the biggest culprits are cluster flies, multicolored Asian Lady Beetles, Western conifer seed bugs, and the Brown Marmorated Stinkbug. Im about to get on my soapbox, so flee this post now if you must. People cannot tell a seed bug from a stink bug from a shield bug from a squash bug from a box elder bug in this state, and it irks me. Yes, they are all in the same Infraorder, when it comes to taxonomic classification, but thats the same as saying humans and tamarin monkeys are the same! Theres a HUGE difference. Whats even worse is that many people flatten anything that looks like a stinkbug to them, and that means many, many species get killed off including other bugs that would help people keep the nuisance stinkers in check! Please learn the difference, because killing indiscriminately is bad for your house and garden, and ultimately bad for the environment. First off, not all stinkbugs are invasive. NH has three dozen native stinkbugs that dont want anything to do with your house. The only true stinkbug that will come for an unwelcome visit is the Brown Marmorated Stinkbug (BMSB). This species is originally from Asia, and is very invasive. Squash these all you like, although as with all stinkbugs, squashing them releases a horrible odor. And unlike their relatives the seed bugs, stink bugs can also eject a stinky liquid at will. If you pick one up, prepare to be skunked. Even native stinkbugs can be pest species, as they eat seeds and injure fruits in the garden. Brown Marmorated Stinkbugs are especially hated by wineries as they can ruin a batch with a foul taste when accidentally pressed with grapes. But most stinkbugs also eat caterpillars that ravage the garden. Theyll even take on large ones, like the hornworms. That same piercing mouthpart that lets them eat fruit and other bugs can also poke you, yet another reason to be careful when handling these critters, although they prefer to let their stink do the talking. So far, the BMSB has not made a lot of progress into the Upper Valley so its unlikely they are the stinkbug invading your house. You might not believe me, but the truth speaks for itself; when these bugs move indoors, they do so in huge numbers, with some poor homeowners down south reporting having to remove the bugs by the coffee can, and one naturalist losing count at ~28,000 (!!!). The state of NH is tracking Brown Marmorated Stinkbug sightings, so if you think you see one, check out this page for helpful hints on how to ID the bug: extension.unh.edu/Identifying-Brown-Marmorated-Stink-Bug. My profile picture this week is of a BMSB. There are only four species of Shield Bugs in N. America, and most people just lump them in with the stink bugs as they look very similar. In fact Shield bugs are in a different family entirely and so are only distantly related, despite the fact that some of them can emit stinky fluids and stink when crushed. Shield bugs prefer woody stemmed plants for their meals, and so are less common in gardens. They are also noteworthy because they care for their young, a very uncommon trait in insects. This is why one common name for any/all of these species is The Parent. One of our species looks VERY similar to the BMSB. The Stink Bug that invades homes around here isnt even close to a stink bug. Its the Western Conifer Seed Bug, a member of the Leaf-footed Bug family and a species originally from the west. Seed and Leaf bugs are also only distantly related to Stink and Shield bugs being classified to a different family from both stinkbugs and shield bugs. Most of them cannot emit a stink on demand, but are smelly if crushed. Some people report that the WCSB can stink, but on a scale of 1 to 10, with a regular stink bug being a 10, this species is a 2 or 3. Ive never noticed a stink at all, and handled more of them than I can count. Because their diet is completely different from stinkbugs, these cannot bite humans. So you can handle them safely to throw them back outside. They also dont congregate in epic numbers like true stinkbugs, although they still can be a nuisance. Also distantly related to the stink bug is the squash bug. Several species share the tribe name of Squash Bug but it most often refers to one particular species, Anasa tristis. Members of this group do not invade homes at all. Squash bugs also cannot emit a stink, and dont smell if crushed. While they can be devastating to pumpkins, squash, and cucumbers, they cant really bite humans. Finally in the faux stinkbug catagory, box-elder bugs arent stinkbugs, and arent even closely related to them. They are closer related to the Squash bugs and Leaf-footed bugs! Box-elder bugs are not a commonplace nuisance bug here as they are further south, although they can still invade houses in small numbers in New Hampshire. They dont bite humans, and cannot emit a stink. However, their feces can stain surfaces, and they stink if crushed. Have you noticed something? Squashing most of these bugs leaves you with an unpleasant smell. Maybe you should try just moving them outside instead? Most importantly, people who go around squishing anything that looks like a stinkbug kill off one of their best allies in the garden - Assassin Bugs! Assassin bugs will eat all of the above, plus a lot of the other bugs that make your skin crawl, like wasps. Some of the larger species around the world will take on cockroaches. These insects have earned their name because they typically lurk and wait for prey to draw close before striking. They are armed with one heck of a beak-like mouthpart that can pierce insect armor...and human skin. Anyone who tells me theyve endured a very painful bite by a stinkbug really encountered an assassin bug. Many describe the bite as worse than a wasps sting. But the bugs do not bite unless greatly provoked, and even the average person can tell one from a stinkbug by looking for the long curved proboscis coming off the head. Considering how many detrimental bugs they eat in the yard and garden, these are friends rather than foes. Pictures: Shield Bug (Elasmucha lateralis) Western Conifer Seed Bug (Leptoglossus occidentalis) Squash Bug (Anasa tristis) Box-elder Bug (Boisea trivittata) Assassin Bug (species undetermined) Assassin Bug side view (species undetermined) Picture credits: Shield bug photo copyright: Charley Eiseman Photographer webpage: charleyeiseman/ Photo url: bugguide.net/node/view/313458/bgimage Western Conifer Seed Bug copyright: Me Squash bug photo copyright: MJ Hatfield Photographer bug photostream: buglifecycle/?page_id=1180 Photo url: bugguide.net/node/view/882817/bgimage Box-elder Bug photo copyright: Karolina Stutzman Photographer bug photostream: bugguide.net/bgimage/user/65995 Photo url: bugguide.net/node/view/731405/bgimage Assassin Bug copyright: Me
Posted on: Fri, 26 Sep 2014 19:53:50 +0000
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