The hits just keep coming, in the form of more uninvited 6-legged visitors whose real home is across the waters.
A tide of invasive insects has washed over our Freistadt neighborhood Pewaukee and Wisconsin in the past two decades: the Japanese beetle and gypsy moth to name a few. All are innate to foreign countries. All have caused environmental and economic havoc in the U.S., where no natural predators exist to control them.
The most recent invader winging its way here will literally make a smell.
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 journeying west since being first discovered in Pennsylvania in 2001.
Its name is well-deserved. When smushed or stepped on, the brown marmorated stink bug emits a strong, pungent you'd invite into your Freistadt home, right?
Fortunately, the brown marmorated insect hasn't arrived in great numbers in Freistadt or WI. 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 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 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 Freistadt homes. If you smush one, you'll figure it out quickly. The nose knows. If you see more in your Freistadt house or yard, don't step on them – contact The Mosquito Guy to address their presence in a safe, non-smelly fashion. Unlike these insects, we'll never stink up your joint.