Brown marmorated stink bugs reach maturity in 50 days, so in the south where the warm temperatures hang around the longest, they're capable of birthing six generations per year.[...]posted by LobsterMitten at 8:59 PM on April 29, 2011 [2 favorites]
Leskey said another USDA researcher based in Beltsville (MD) may have isolated the brown marmorated stink bug's aggregation pheromone which is released by male stink bugs and the reason that large groups of stink bugs congregate in a single areas, such as on the side of a house or in part of an orchard. If the pheromone can be replicated, it will greatly improve researchers' ability to attract stink bugs to the monitoring traps, making their research more useful. [...]
[They tested insecticides, so see if any worked on these new stink bugs.] The results of the lab insecticide tests were fascinating, Butler said, because they demonstrated just how frustrating these creatures are.
"Normally when you spray an insecticide, dead is dead," Butler said. "Not this time." With the majority of the insecticides tested, a portion of the stink bugs, often in the range of 15 to 50 percent, appeared to be dead right away. However, over the course of a week, they came back to life. Scientists call the coma-like stage that the stink bugs are exhibiting "moribund," Butler said. It seems that while they are knocked out, their bodies are actually actively working internally to break down the insecticide, he said, after which they are recovered and wake up.
"It takes seven days to figure out if you've really killed them or not," Butler said.
[...] Allgeier warns people about purchasing any product that says it can wipe out stink bugs. Some of them are plain old fakes, he said, and others mean native stink bugs, which there are products available for but that probably won't work on the brown marmorated stink bug.
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A friend of mine up there has a woodburning stove, and when she'd light it, smoke would come pouring into the room. She disassembled the stovepipe to check if something was blocking it, and yeah something was. TEN MILLION STINKBUGS in one writhing mass. Absolutely revolting.
Even so I'm not quite at the point where I say BRING ON THE PARASITIC WASPS! I mean, that kind of thing has never gone wrong before, has it?
posted by capnsue at 9:53 AM on April 29, 2011 [3 favorites]