Stink Bugs

Adult stink bugs have a broad, shield-shaped body, typically one to two centimetres long, in shades of green, brown, or grey depending on species. Nymphs resemble smaller, often more rounded and colourfully patterned versions of the adult, lacking fully developed wings.

Feeding leaves small, dark puncture marks on pods, grain, or fruit, and can cause shrivelled or discoloured seeds in grain and legume crops, or dimpled, distorted ("cat-faced") fruit in crops such as tomato.

Females lay barrel-shaped eggs in clusters on leaves. Nymphs pass through several stages, feeding throughout, before becoming winged adults. Many species overwinter as adults in leaf litter, field margins, or woodland edges, moving into crops as host plants become suitable, often around flowering or pod- and grain-fill stages.

Feeding on developing seeds and grain can cause shrivelling, discolouration, and reduced germination, while feeding on fruit produces localised blemishes or malformation that reduce marketability even when overall yield loss is modest.

Host crops include soybean, rice, and tomato, along with many other legume, cereal, and fruiting vegetable crops.

Sweep-net sampling and visual counts of nymphs and adults, particularly around flowering and seed- or grain-fill stages, along with pheromone traps for some species, help track populations and inform decisions using local thresholds.

Stink bug management focuses on monitoring around the vulnerable reproductive stages of the crop, combined with habitat and natural-enemy considerations.

• Scout fields around flowering and seed- or grain-fill, when damage risk is highest
• Conserve parasitoid wasps and flies and other natural enemies
• Manage weedy field margins that can host overwintering or migrating populations
• Use border or trap-crop strategies where locally validated