Photo: Florida Predatory Stink Bug larvae, Judy Gallagher
Judy Gallagher is an ASNV board member and a regular surveyor of local wildlife who also captures photos of what she sees, in particular the less common species. Here are some observations from her most recent survey.
Florida Predatory Stink Bug, Judy Gallagher
If you've experienced a Stink Bug invasion of your house, you might be forgiven for thinking that all Stink Bugs are bad. There are hundreds of Stink Bug species in North America and very few invade houses. And a subset of these bugs, the Predatory Stink Bugs, are beneficial for pest control in the garden, eating other insects that eat garden plants. Eggs and nymphs of the Spined Soldier Bug, one of the Predatory Stink Bugs, can be purchased for use as biological control.
Anchor Stink Bug with Argus Tortoise Beetle larva, Judy Gallagher
As the name implies, Predatory Stink Bugs eat other insects, often attacking prey that is larger than they are. Adults overwinter in sheltered locations like leaf litter (but not inside houses) and emerge in early spring to stalk their prey. This Anchor Stink Bug has captured an Argus Tortoise Beetle larva.
Florida Predatory Stink Bug with Bumble Bee, Judy Gallagher
Some Predatory Stink Bugs species specialize in one or two prey species, but most predatory stink bugs take whatever prey they can catch. This Florida Predatory Stink Bug caught a beneficial insect, a Bumble Bee. If other prey isn't available, they will eat each other.
Stink Bug eggs with Parasitic Wasp, Judy Gallagher
So what controls Predatory Stink Bug populations? Wasps parasitize Stink Bug eggs, and are an important control of all Stink Bug species. Katydids, crickets, ground beetles, jumping spiders and earwigs eat Stink Bug eggs.
Pale Green Assassin Bug with Stink Bug Judy Gallagher
Assassin Bugs eat Stink Bug adults. The prey in this case is a Stink Bug, but not a Predatory Stink Bug.
Florida Predatory Stink Bug larvae, Judy Gallagher
Predatory Stink Bug nymphs tend to stick together, and have been known to attack prey too large to be subdued by a single nymph. You might be wondering why so many of these predators are brightly colored. Stink Bugs have glands on their backs that produce the stinky chemicals that give them their name. These chemicals make them distasteful to many predators, and the Stink Bugs' bright colors advertise that they do not taste good. Immature stink bugs' chemical glands are the spots seen here on the abdomen of these Florida Predatory Stink Bugs. When they become adults, their wings would cover those spots, so the chemical glands move to the thorax.
Isn't nature complicated and wonderful?
View all of Judy’s Observations from Meadowood articles here.