Dayna Malik: The Stink Bug

The Stink Bug, also known as the Halyomorpha halys or the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug is indigenous to the northeastern part of Asia. Stink bugs damage trees, vegetables and crops.They are said to be a native pest to China, Korea, and Japan. The Stink bug was just recently introduced into the United States and is said to arrived through shipping containers from Asia.The first discovery of the stink bug in the US, was in Pennsylvania in 2001.

The Stink bug name refers to the scent that protrudes from the bugs when they are squashed. They attack common crops like apples, peaches, figs, mulberries, citrus fruits, and soybeans. They disperse in the fall and spring and can be household pests because they tend to look for a warm place to stay for the winter.

I actually found this bug more than once. It was in early September, and it was on the inside of my window crawling up and down. The next day I found it crawling on my bed. The bug is really scary looking because it actually looks like it has pinchers, like a crab. I realized it was a stink bug when I squashed the bug and my entire room smelled extremely bad like burning grass. The smell does not go away quickly, it lasted for a good hour.

The stink bug has a triangular body, with black and white patterns all across it. It has 6 legs that look as if they have claws on the ends of them, and 2 antenna's. They can crawl on almost everything and are about 3/4". They are part of the Animalia Kingdome, Antropoda Phylum, Pentatomidae Family and the Hemiptera Order.