I hate Stink Bugs, these small stinking insect pests can destroy citrus trees and suck the life out of your lemons. Birds don't eat them and they seem to have no natural predators. Chemical controls only have a short term effect so lets turn up the heat and wipe out the whole stink bug population. It's quite amazing how many stink bugs were hiding out in the lemon tree.
Musgraveia sulciventris is a large stink bug found in Australia, commonly known as the bronze orange bug. It is considered a pest, particularly to plants in the citrus group. They suck the sap from trees, which causes the flowers and fruit to fall. Bronze orange stink bugs first appear in late winter. Mating takes place between late November through early March. Each mating pair takes 3 to 5 days to produce 10 to 14 eggs. The female lays up to four clutches of eggs and deposits them on the undersurface of a leaf. The bright green spherical eggs are around 2.5 mm (0.1 in) in diameter. The incubation period varies based on current weather conditions. Hatching averages around 7.4 days at 25 °C and 6 percent humidity. As a light green nymph, they are difficult to spot and often mistaken for a different species. The species has five stages of development known as instars. The first instars remain huddled near the eggs. They are transparent pale green with orange eyes. The second instars are more buff or pale yellow. Adults grow to be approximately 25 mm (nearly 1 in) long, and go from orange to their more familiar bronze color as they develop.
Its native host plants include the desert lime (Citrus glauca), the Australian finger lime (Citrus australasica), and Correas. It has become a major pest of cultivated citrus crops, where it sucks the fluid from new growth and young fruit, causing them to turn yellow and drop off. Whole crops can be devastated.The common name of stinkbug refers to a malodorous liquid that the insect sprays when threatened. It is composed of alkanes, cimicine and aldehydes from glands in the thorax. These compounds primarily serve as protection against fellow arthropods, to which they are lethal. However, the defensive chemicals of M. sulciventris are known for being among the most debilitating to vertebrates, which is likely a defense specifically aimed against birds. They can cause damage to human skin and even cause temporary blindness if sprayed into the eyes. The bronze orange bug can spray the liquid at a target up to 0.6 m (2 ft) away.
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28 сен 2024
