Rearing the brown marmorated stink bug halyomorpha halys (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae)

Abstract

The brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys, is a potential threat to Florida agriculture. Several interceptions have occurred in the last several yr, but BMSB is apparently not yet established in Florida. At the FDACS-DPI quarantine facility different rearing methods were evaluated with H. halys to provide the number of egg masses required to conduct the needed host-specificity tests with an egg-parasitoid. Here we described a very effective rearing method for the daily collection of egg masses so that 100 egg masses per wk could be reliably provided for use in experiments.