Stink Bugs

Stink Bugs are characterized as ‘large, oval-shaped insects’. The size of an adult stink bug can reach up to 2 cm in length. Most of the stink bugs are as wide as they are long. Stink Bug is brown in color and has lighter bands on the antennae and darker on the wings. Homeowners often find them inside their homes during the late summer and autumn when temperatures start to drop. Stink Bugs may produce stunted plants, kill small seedlings or cause “suckering”.

The brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) is considered an invasive species, or a pest of foreign origin, as it was introduced to the United States from Eastern Asia in the mid-1990s. It is also referred to as the yellow-brown or East Asian stink bug. The bug was first collected in the United States in Allentown, PA in the fall of 1996, but apparently not recognized or identified until September 2001. It quickly spread east to New Jersey, then Virginia by 2004, and now southward to the North Carolina border. Today, brown marmorated stink bugs are most prevalent in the mid-Atlanta region, but they have been identified in 44 states and the District of Columbia. The bug’s native range includes China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan.

The stink bug earned its name from its tendency to release an odor when disturbed or when crushed. Many other insects have these same characteristics, including some species of ants, beetles and other bugs. Read on to learn about how to get rid of stink bugs.

Stink bugs are described in several different ways. They are characterized as both “large, oval-shaped insects” and “shield-shaped insects.” Adult stink bugs can reach almost 2 cm in length. They are nearly as wide as they are long. Their legs extend from the sides, so this makes the adult bugs appear even larger. The brown marmorated stink bug is a brownish stink bug. It has lighter bands on the antennae and darker bands on the wings.

Adult stink bugs are good fliers and fold their wings on top of their body when they land. Nymphs do not have fully developed wings. The wings appear when the nymph becomes an adult.