3-29 IAN Controlling Stink Bugs

 Battling stink bugs with wasps.  Oregon State University is studying how to use bug-on-bug warfare to stop the crop-damaging pest known as the brown marmorated stink bug  from spreading across the state. The insect arrived in the eastern United States in the late 1990s and has since spread to more than 30 states. It is a non-native bug and Dr. Peter Shearer,  entomologist at Oregon State University, explains a unique strategy for fighting this pest without having to introduce pesticides to the environment.  “Essentially this is a classical concept called bio-control. You go over to where the pest came from,  and you look for natural enemies that kept it in check over there.  Dr. Kim Hollmer from USDA went over to China and Korea several years ago and brought back a couple of parasitic wasps that attacked the brown marmorated stink bug eggs.”  Smaller than a pinhead, the wasp, known as Trissolcus halyomorphae, lays its eggs in the brown marmorated stink bug's eggs. The potential release of the wasp in the field could still be years away as researchers need to first test its behavior in quarantine to determine if it discriminates between the brown marmorated stink bug's eggs and those of other species.