The hits just keep coming, in the form of more unwelcomed six-legged visitors whose real home is across the waters.
A tide of persistent insects has washed over our Prairie Grove neighborhood Pewaukee and Wisconsin in the past two decades: the Japanese beetle and Asian beetle to name a few. All are resident to foreign countries. All have caused environmental and economic havoc in the U.S., where no natural predators exist to control them.
The latest invader winging its way here will literally make a stink.
The brown marmorated insect is ¾-inch long, with a wide back side that tapers to a point, and a rectangular head with long antennae. Native to China and east Asia, the insect has been migrating west since being first discovered in Pennsylvania in 2001.
Its name is well-deserved. When smushed or crushed, the brown marmorated stink bug emits a strong, odor guaranteed to wrinkle your nose. Probably not a {visitor you'd invite into your Prairie Grove home, right?
Fortunately, the brown marmorated stink bug hasn't arrived in great numbers in Prairie Grove or Wisconsin. Stink bug control isn't much of an issue yet. Yet it's only a matter of time.
Farmers dislike them for more than their smell. The stink bug feast on tree fruits, vegetables, sweet corn and soybeans. Mid-Atlantic apple growers sustained an estimated $37 million in crop losses in 2010 to marmorated stink bugs.
The Asian invasive has a cousin that is native to the U.S. The brown stink bug looks a lot like the brown marmorated version, except the colors of their undersides are different. We somehow doubt you'll get that far identifying them, though.
Brown marmorated stink bugs like to winter inside Prairie Grove homes. If you step on one, you'll figure it out quickly. The nose knows. If you see more in your Prairie Grove house or yard, don't crush them – contact The Mosquito Guy to address their presence in a safe, non-stinky fashion. Unlike these insects, we'll never stink up your joint.