The brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB), Halyomorpha halys (Stål) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), is an invasive insect from Asia that has recently become a major pest of agricultural crops and a nuisance to home and business owners in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. Since 2010, H. halys has been reported in many vineyards in Virginia, but the pest significance in this crop is unknown. Sampling was conducted in four commercial vineyards across Virginia in 2012 and 2013 to study the seasonal phenology and pest status of H. halys in vineyards. Adults moved into vineyards as early as May and laid eggs usually on the undersurface of leaves, but occasionally on the berry or the rachis. Grapevines were an early season reproductive host for H. halys. A vineyard adjacent to a sub-urban area with homes and buildings in proximity had an early season peak of H. halys as compared to vineyards adjacent to woods. However, populations declined sharply in late season due to the possible movement of bugs to more preferable host plants such as soybean and corn. In contrast, H. halys was recorded throughout the grape growing period in a vineyard that was surrounded by forests. Significantly more H. halys were recorded from border than interior section of vineyards. A degree-day model suggested that there were enough degree-days to complete a generation of H. halys in Virginia vineyards. H. halys caused direct injury to the grape berries at veraison and pre-harvest berries. Injury expression in the veraison berry can be described as an appearance of a small necrotic spot at the site of the stylets insertion. The spot gradually increased in size and the berries became deformed. H. halys is an economic pest of raspberry, causing direct injury to the berries. Sampling of stink bugs in raspberry plantings in southwestern Virginia showed that the Euschistus species were the most abundant stink bugs in 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012. However, H. halys became the most abundant in 2013. / Master of Science in Life Sciences
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/25872 |
| Date | 11 March 2014 |
| Creators | Basnet, Sanjay |
| Contributors | Entomology, Pfeiffer, Douglas G., Kuhar, Thomas P., Bergh, J. Christopher |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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