**Yellow Spotted Stink Bugs** most often refers to species like the **Harlequin Bug** (*Murgantia histrionica*) or the **Southern Green Stink Bug** (*Nezara viridula*), which sometimes exhibit yellow or yellow-marked forms. The conflict is **crop feeding and contamination**: they use piercing-sucking mouthparts to feed on developing fruits and seeds, leaving behind hard, discolored, inedible spots (**catfacing**). Their secondary conflict is releasing a foul-smelling, persistent odor when disturbed or crushed, which can contaminate harvested produce.
Taxonomy and Classification
Stink Bugs belong to the Order Hemiptera (True Bugs) and the Family Pentatomidae. They undergo simple metamorphosis.
Physical Description
Adults are medium-sized, 10 mm to 17 mm long.
- **Adult (Key ID):** Shield-shaped body; often brightly marked with yellow, orange, and black (Harlequin Bug); releases a characteristic, pungent odor when handled.
- **Damage ID (Key):** Sunken, scarred, or discolored spots on fruits and vegetables (e.g., tomatoes, beans, peppers); deformed growth; presence of egg clusters (often barrel-shaped).
- **Conflict:** Agricultural, Nuisance.
Distribution and Habitat
Found worldwide, depending on the species. Habitat is the foliage and fruit of host plants, especially cruciferous vegetables (cabbage, broccoli) and legumes.
Behavior and Conflict
The conflict is their feeding style and defense mechanism.
- **Odor:** The “stink” is due to volatile compounds (aldehydes) released from glands in the thorax.
- **Nymphs:** Nymphs often feed in large, damaging aggregations on plants.
Management and Prevention
Management is **Sanitation and Physical Control**.
- **Sanitation:** Removing crop residue and surrounding weeds in the fall to eliminate overwintering sites for the adults.
- **Trap Cropping:** Planting highly attractive plants (like mustard) around the cash crop to aggregate the pests for easier control.
- Hand-picking individuals and egg masses into soapy water in small gardens.
Conservation and Research
Research focuses on the specialized parasitic wasps (*Trissolcus* spp.) that parasitize stink bug eggs, forming the basis for biological control programs.