Tag Archives: In the News

Bugs, Invasive Species, Ornamental Pest, Outdoor Insect Invaders

Why Such a Stink About a Bug?

Every fall, residents throughout Wisconsin and many other parts of the country face an invasion by a number of insects: boxelder bugs, multicolored Asian lady beetles, western conifer seed bugs and cluster flies, to name a few.  With the coming frosts, these insects are simply trying to find a sheltered location to settle for the winter.  Out in nature, many of these insects would simply crawl into a rock pile or beneath the loose bark of a dead tree to overwinter.

MALB Overwintering_opt
Multicolored Asian Lady Beetles often spend the winter in sheltered spots, such as beneath the bark of dead trees. However, they can just as easily sneak into buildings. Photo Credit: PJ Liesch, UW-Entomology

But why rough it out in nature if there are perfectly good buildings to sneak in to?  Next time you’re cleaning the gutters, take a moment to peek around the outside of your house.  Small gaps in siding, soffit areas, around door and window frames, and cracks in the foundation are all potential spots for insects to sneak through.  And if they make it through?  Well, you could be in for some extended visitors. . .

In addition to the usual fall invaders, a relative newcomer starting to pop up in Wisconsin and other parts of the Midwest is the invasive Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (Halyomorpha halys).  Like the boxelder bugs and multicolored Asian lady beetles, brown marmorated stink bugs (BMSB) like to find their way indoors for the winter.  This Asian species was first detected in Wisconsin back in 2010 and for reasons we don’t fully understand, their numbers have been quite low the past few years.  As of late 2014, BMSB has been confirmed or suspected in 10 Wisconsin counties, with most of the reports coming out of the Madison and Milwaukee area.  A handful of sightings each year has been the pattern.

Unfortunately, we may be at the beginning of a shift in BMSB populations in the state.  In early 2015, there were at least 6 specimens found in Wisconsin by early March.  Despite the quiet summer, the sightings have started popping up again in late September and October of this year.  What’s more concerning is that we’re starting to see groups of these insects clustered together (previous sightings had consisted almost exclusively of lone individuals).

Not only are these unwanted houseguests a nuisance, but quite frankly, they smell bad.  True to their title of “stink bug”, brown marmorated stink bugs possess glands that can emit a pungent odor.  Some consider the odor to be coriander-like, while others  say it resembles musty gym socks.  Invasive species [check].  Nuisance invader [check].  Smells bad [check].  That’s all, right?  Unfortunately, not quite.  Just like a bad late-night infomercial: Wait! There’s more!

Bad Bug Checklist-Upload

It turns out that brown marmorated stink bug has the potential to be quite a nasty plant pest and rivals the Japanese beetle in the breadth of its palate.  Brown marmorated stink bug seems to feed on just about anything under the sun: field crops like corn and soybeans, vegetables like tomatoes and peppers, and even ornamental trees and shrubs. Fruits like apples and grapes can be hit especially hard.  In some cases, the mere presence of BMSB can be a problem: imagine being a vintner and having your batch of wine tainted by the presence of a few squished stink bugs!  In the eastern U.S. there are regular reports of agricultural problems and growers have to spray to control these insects.  We haven’t had any reports of plant damage in Wisconsin yet, but that could change over time if BMSB populations continue to climb.

So what can you do about brown marmorated stink bugs?  For starters, learning to tell them apart from our native stink bugs is relatively easy.  Look for the alternating “checkerboard” pattern along the back edge of these half-inch long insects and the two light bands on the otherwise brown antennae.

Brown Marmorated Stink Bug ID
Identifying features of the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug; click for larger version. Photo Credit: PJ Liesch, UW-Entomology

With relatively few sightings in Wisconsin at this point, we’re still trying to get a feel for where this insect is.  If you suspect that there may be brown marmorated stink bugs around your house, take a picture of the insect and email it to me at (pliesch@wisc.edu) for identification.  Another option is to collect a physical sample and mail them in to the Insect Diagnostic Lab for identification (instructions on how to submit samples can be found here).

If brown marmorated stink bugs or other fall invading insects are trying to get into your house, one of the best things to do is to inspect the outside of your home and physically seal up cracks and crevices where they’re trying to sneak in.  Once fall invaders are indoors, hauling out the hose attachment on the vacuum cleaner is often one of the best steps to remove them.

 

Big Bugs, Wasps and Bees

Asian Giant Hornets?—Nope!

It’s summer and large wasp zips past.  A quick Google search has you convinced you’ve discovered an Asian Giant Hornet (aka “murder hornet”). . .except they don’t occur in our area.  What’s you’ve likely encountered is a common, native insect known as the “cicada killer“.  They can be surprisingly in Wisconsin and much of the Midwest and are surprisingly docile—unless you happen to be a cicada, but I’ll get to that later...

The things entomologists do for the sake of their curiosity:

This past Wednesday I found myself thinking about Hollywood Horror Films while crouched along a hot sunny rock wall on the UW-Madison campus patiently waiting for one of our largest wasps to land mere inches from my face. What gives?  Cicada Killers: One part cold-blooded killer, one part flying teddy bear (check out how fuzzy that thorax is!).

CIcada Killer
Territorial male cicada killer wasp trying to stare me down for getting too close to his rock. Photo credit: PJ Liesch, UW-Entomology [Click for a larger image]
Part of their basic biology plays out like a B-Class horror movie: a victim (cicada) is injected with an incapacitating chemical before being dragged to an underground lair and left to be eaten alive. While it sounds bizarre, this is actually fairly common in the insect world and there are many examples of wasps that paralyze their prey and haul them off to their nests in the ground to feed to their young.  (One of my favorites is the Zombie-making “emerald cockroach wasp“)

Sometimes pushing two inches in length, cicada killer wasps (Sphecius speciousus) are amongst our largest wasps in the Midwest and resemble large yellowjackets. They specialize in tracking down and attacking cicadas, which the females haul back to the nests they had previously dug in patches of bare soil. Despite their “killer” habits, these insects are usually quite docile and non-aggressive towards humans. Unlike their smaller yellowjacket cousins which have a large colony to defend, cicada killers are solitary nesters. You can actually get within inches of them without provocation, although the territorial males may fly around to check you out.

Cicada Killer 2_opt
Cicada killer wasp (Sphecius speciousus) on the UW-Madison campus. Photo credit: PJ Liesch, UW-Entomology

Cicada killers can be common in the state and also happen to be common on the UW-Madison campus. You can often find them near some of the dorms along the Lakeshore bike path and also in the rock wall along the Linden Drive pull-off near the Nutritional Sciences Building (just in case you’re in the mood to meet them up-close and personal.) . They’re also common many other places in Wisconsin and the eastern US in areas with sandy soil.

In the mood for an actual horror movie involving giant predatory wasps? The recently released “Stung” might be perfect for you. . .

If you’re looking for additional information on Asian giant hornets and their look-alikes in our area, check out this post.

Butterflies, Pollinators

The Plight of the Monarchs

Just like the bees, the beloved Monarch (Danaus plexippus), is facing declines in North America.  Unlike the bee declines, which seem to be the result of a complex amalgam of factors, a major factor jumps out when it comes to monarch declines: habitat loss.  Simply put, we’ve gotten rid of much of the formerly ubiquitous milkweed in the Midwest.  There’s a number of reasons for this, ranging from continued land development, farm subsidies that have resulted in the cultivation of non-crop land, and heavy use of herbicide resistant crop varieties.  One scientific report suggests that the Midwest has lost nearly 60% of its milkweed over the past fifteen years.

Reared adult monarch prior to release, August 2008; Photo credit: PJ Liesch

We all probably learned the general story of the monarch in elementary school: a spring northward migration, milkweed, eggs, more milkweed, striped caterpillars, even more milkweed, orange and black butterflies, and finally migration down to Mexico after a few generations (there’s a great migration video here).  It’s bad enough that the sole summer food source of the monarchs (milkweed) has been disappearing, but monarchs are actually fighting a multi-front battle, as their overwintering habitat is disappearing as well.  Over the past few decades, much of the overwintering territory in Mexico has been lost, degraded, and fragmented by logging (both large and small scale).  What’s really concerning is that the overwintering territory isn’t all that big to begin with, making the insects vulnerable to extreme weather events.  A brutal winter storm in January of 2002 killed roughly 75% of the monarchs at some overwintering sites.  If monarchs keep getting squished into smaller and smaller areas, all it could take is a few bad winter storms to crash their numbers. Talk about putting all your eggs into one basket. . .

So why the fuss about monarchs now?
Over the past two years, the number of monarchs overwintering in Mexico has been the lowest in the history of the annual surveys.

Monarch Population Chart

With enough support, could we also pull the iconic monarch out of harms way?  Having the assistance of the President of the United States certainly helps.  Just yesterday, the white house announced that the Pollinator Task Force (created in 2014) has released its plan to help pollinators.  The three main goals of the plan are: 1) reduce honey bee losses to sustainable levels, 2) preserve the monarch population in the US, and 3) increase and improve pollinator habitat (full details here).

This isn’t the first time we’ve recognized a species at risk and created a recovery plan.  A classic success story: the iconic bald eagle.  It’s estimated that in the mid 1900’s there were just over 400 pairs of bald eagles left in the contiguous US.  These days, anyone passing through Sauk City, can tell you bald eagles have certainly rebounded.

While the Pollinator Task Force’s plan will take some time, there are things we can all do to immediately provide assistance for monarchs:
1) Plant milkweed to create a habitat for monarchs
2) Get involved with citizen science projects to educate ourselves and others
3) Use caution when using pesticides in the landscape to minimize impacts to monarchs, bees, and other beneficial species