Latest Wisconsin Insect: Brown Marmorated Stink Bug

The hits just keep coming, in the form of more uninvited 6-legged visitors whose real home is across the waters.

A surge of annoying bugs has washed over our Waukesha County neighborhood Pewaukee and Wisconsin in the past 2 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 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 migrating west since being first discovered in Pennsylvania in 2001.

Its name is well-deserved. When disturbed or crushed, the brown marmorated stink bug emits an awful, overpowering you'd invite into your Waukesha County home, right?

Fortunately, the brown marmorated insect hasn't arrived in large numbers in Waukesha County 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 stink. 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 relative 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 Waukesha County homes. If you smush one, you'll figure it out quickly. The nose knows. If you see more in your Waukesha County house or yard, don't crush 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.