Brown Marmorated Stink Bug – (BMSB)

Description:

There are five immature stages with this stink bug and each one has a slightly different color and pattern change. On these the legs, head and thorax are a tan and brown color with some black also. Spines are located on the femur, before each eye, and several on the lateral margins of the thorax, which show up as gold / yellow bumps. These were about 10 to 12 mm in length. I really didn’t want to test the theory that they were stink bugs.

Habitat:

These were found, bunched together under leaves on a cold August morning in the far northern California valley. There must have been at least 50 of them in several clusters.

Notes:

These stink bugs have become a serious pests of fruit, vegetables and farm crops in the Mid-Atlantic region and it is probable that it will become a pest of these commodities in other areas in the United States. The brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB), an insect not previously seen on our continent, was apparently accidentally introduced into eastern Pennsylvania. It was first collected in September of 1998 in Allentown.