Behind the Shield

If you've ever been shoulder to shoulder with a redshouldered stink bug--or nose to antennae--you know this is a bug to boot out of your garden.

It's a pest. Behind that shield-shaped body is a pest.

A redshouldered stink bug (Thyanta accerra) roved around our garden this morning, apparently looking for something to eat. Guard the tomatoes! Defend the plums! Hold onto the nectarines! Shelter the squash!

The stink bug feeds on developing fruits and vegetables, piercing the skin with its mouthparts, sucking the juice, and leaving the door open for undesirable microorganisms.

Why are they called stink bugs? Because when disturbed or crushed, they release an unpleasant odor.

About this time of year, you're supposed to look under leaves for the telltale rows of eggs--which, if allowed to mature--will become stink bugs.  Pest control advisers tell us to toss the immature and mature stink bugs into a pail of soapy water.

I must admit, though, that the redshouldered stink bug is a work of art, especially when the morning sun sets the red antennae aglow.

This one didn't enter the soapy water.

Not yet...