The hits just keep coming, in the form of more unwelcomed six-legged visitors whose real home is across the oceans.
A tide of annoying bugs has washed over our Prairie Grove neighborhood Pewaukee and Wisconsin in the past two decades: the emerald ash borer and Asian beetle to name a few. All are innate to foreign countries. All have caused environmental and economic mayhem in the United States, where no natural predators exist to control them.
The most recent invader winging its way here will literally make a smell.
The brown marmorated stink bug 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 traveling 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, creature you'd invite into your Prairie Grove home, right?
Fortunately, the brown marmorated insect hasn't arrived in large numbers in Prairie Grove or WI. Stink bug control isn't much of an issue yet. Yet it's only a matter of time.
Farmers hate them for more than their odor. The stink bug feed 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 family member that is native to the United States. The insect 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 crack one, you'll figure it out quickly. The nose knows. If you see more in your Prairie Grove home or yard, don't smush them – contact The Mosquito Guy to address their presence in a safe, non-smelly fashion. Unlike these bugs, we'll never stink up your joint.