The hits just keep coming, in the form of more unwanted six-legged visitors whose real home is across the oceans.
A tide of invasive insects has washed over our Old Mill Creek neighborhood Pewaukee and Wisconsin in the past two decades: the emerald ash borer and Asian beetle to name a few. All are native to foreign countries. All have caused environmental and economic mayhem in the U.S., where no natural predators exist to control them.
The most recent invader winging its way here will literally make a smell.
The brown marmorated insect is ¾-inch long, with a wide back side that tapers to a point, and a rectangular head with long antennae. Native to China and east Asia, the insect has been traveling west since being first discovered in Pennsylvania in 2001.
Its name is well-deserved. When smushed or crushed, the brown marmorated stink bug emits an awful, pungent you'd invite into your Old Mill Creek home, right?
Fortunately, the brown marmorated stink bug hasn't arrived in great numbers in Old Mill Creek or WI. Stink bug control isn't much of an issue yet. Yet it's only a matter of time.
Farmers hate them for more than their stink. The stink bug feast on tree fruits, vegetables, sweet corn and soybeans. Mid-Atlantic apple growers sustained an estimated $37 million in crop losses in 2010 to marmorated stink bugs.
The Asian invasive has a relative that is native to the U.S. The insect looks a lot like the brown marmorated version, except the colors of their undersides are different. We somehow doubt you'll get that far identifying them, though.
Brown marmorated stink bugs like to winter inside Old Mill Creek your house. If you smush one, you'll figure it out quickly. The nose knows. If you see more in your Old Mill Creek home or yard, don't crush them – contact The Mosquito Guy to address their presence in a safe, non-smelly fashion. Unlike these bugs, we'll never stink up your joint.