Current Status of Brown Marmorated Stink Bug in Turkey

Abstract

The brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB, Halyomorpha halys) is an invasive insect species that has caused significant damage in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia over the last 20 years, and it continues to spread globally in suitable habitats. BMSB was detected for the first time in Turkey in 2017 and has spread along the coastline of the Black Sea and Marmara regions and is now present in 10 provinces. The government agriculture offices have started to follow BMSB population density and fluctuations using pheromone traps during the growing seasons in the eastern Black Sea region, which is the main area of infestation, as well as in some other provinces that have infestation potential. In this study, hazelnut orchards were sampled to assess BMSB damage and identify potential host plants. Overwintering adults usually start to appear in orchards after May, and these adults and nymphs can be observed in June and July. A new generation of adults is usually seen from early August to late October. The number of adults captured was 222 per funnel trap during the overwintering seasons of 2019 and 2020. The number of captured insects reached its peak during September and October and started to decline after late October when the insects migrated to overwintering sites. The main host plants in the infested area are hazelnut, kiwifruit, peach, pear, grape, maize, and pepper. Currently, the BMSB population size is very low in hazelnut orchards and damage is limited. Turkey has decided to implement classical biological control against BMSB by introducing the samurai wasp, Trissolcus japonicus. Mass rearing facilities for the parasitoid wasp have been built at the Black Sea Agricultural Research Institute in Samsun. © 2023 International Society for Horticultural Science. All rights reserved.