Bon voyage, Stinky! We’ll miss you (NOT!)
“Stinky” is the live stink bug that I just mailed to Rutgers University. (OFFICIALLY its name is the brown marmorated stink bug or BMSB.) J.R. bagged him and I tagged him! LOL Talk about teamwork.
Stinky has been sitting on my desk at work all morning in an otherwise empty prescription drug bottle. (Don’t worry, we made holes in the cap.) And that little bugger has been staring at me all morning!
OK, as background, you should know that while I was trying to figure out more about the stink bugs invading our bedroom on a regular basis, I came across information from Rutgers University. It turns out Rutgers is doing a study. They want to find out how invasive this pest has become in New Jersey since its introduction almost a decade ago.
You’ll see from the text below from their website that I’m just responding to their call for live specimens. I’m sure they need to verify that we do indeed have stink bugs and not some other pest. So come on, everyone, let’s all do our part and mail those stink bugs today!!!
“Since 2000, the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (Halyomorpha halys (Stål) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) has been confirmed in several Mid-Atlantic States and in Oregon and California. It is believed that its distribution is much wider than currently documented.
To determine the risk to agricultural and ornamental industries, we must first determine where the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug is currently located. With the help of sightings from homeowners, Rutgers University will be able to quickly develop monitoring methods and control techniques for this invasive plant pest.
If you believe you have the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug, please see the How to Identify the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug link and then fill out the secure electronic form, which will be sent to researchers currently working on monitoring this pest. If you are able to capture a specimen, please do so in any type of container. For more information please see the Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station (NJAES) Cooperative Extension fact sheet FS002 (PDF file).
For more information on this project, contact Anne Nielsen or George Hamilton at the NJAES Pest Management Office.”