If you or someone you know discovers a pest on-orchard that seems unusual or concerning, you can use the Find-A-Pest app to help quickly identify it.
The app allows you to easily snap a photo and send in observations of any potential pest. By improving our monitoring of pests, we can improve our knowledge as an industry of the spread and incidence of pests that cause harm to production and our natural environment. The app also has excellent fact sheets to help you learn more about what pests to look out for.
Download the app today from the Find-A-Pest website.
Brown Marmorated Stink Bug
It is that time of year again. The 2023-24 brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) season kicked off on 1 September with the return of MPI’s seasonal biosecurity measures aimed at preventing the entry and/or establishment of this highly invasive pest. But biosecurity doesn’t just stop at the border; we all need to do our part.
Please be vigilant and keep an eye out for BMSB in your orchard(s). Even if you are unsure if it is a BMSB, please capture it in a container and call the MPI hotline 0800 80 99 66, it’s always better to report it and be wrong, than to not report it and be right!
What is BMSB and why should I care?
The brown marmorated stink bug is a polyphagous sucking insect that uses its proboscis to pierce the host plant to feed. This leads to damaged fruit, crop loss, and general plant health issues as well as the potential to transmit plant pathogens.
Native to Asia, it quickly spread throughout North America and more recently Europe. BMSB are resilient creatures, who are prolific breeders and will hibernate over winter. This means that New Zealand’s climate will not kill it if it arrived. It also means that with New Zealand’s temperate climate, it’s unlikely for the BMSB to go into a hibernation period in certain regions, which will be catastrophic.
Not only is it a pest on horticulture, it’s also a nuisance pest on households, where it has been recorded to have invaded people’s homes in the thousands, causing immense odour that is hard to remove. When stressed, BMSB release and odour which is similar to mixture of dirty socks and coriander.
How do I identify a BMSB?
Use the Find-a-Pest app if you find anything suspicious.Find A Pest Website
Adult BMSB are brown with a marbled pattern on their shield-shaped shell. Their shell, legs and antennae also have light-coloured alternating bands. They approximately 1.7cm long (and similarly wide) – about the size of a 10 cent piece.
BMSB look very similar to New Zealand’s brown soldier bug (Cermatulus nasalis), Pittosporum shield bug (Monteithiella humeralis) and Schellenberg’s soldier bug (Oechalia schellenbergii).
Nymphs are bright orange in the first instance, then the orange turns to brown as the BMSB metamorphosizes into its next life stage(s).
Figure1: Life stages of the BMSB (https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Life-stages-of-BMSB-The-life-stages-of-BMSB-are-shown-starting-with-eggs-followed-by-1st_fig3_265175730)
Other summerfruit pests – our most unwanted!
Keep an eye out for these guys in your orchard
Ambrosia Beetle (left image)
Ambrosia beetles are small exotic pests, that have recently made their way over to New Zealand. They bore into most broadleaf trees (including fruit trees). A tell-tale sign is the protrusions of compacted sawdust that they leave behind. If you see a tree white spots of this sawdust, or one of the guys that causes this transformation, take a photo and report.
Plum Curculio (middle image)
The Plum Curculio is a very small pest that can cause very big damage. At around 5mm long, they can be hard to spot, but their four humps and mottle black/brown colour is a small indicator. These pests enter fruit and cause it to drop fruit early and can be deadly to orchards even when no adults are present. If you see something that looks suspicious, help to keep it out by sending in photos of anything suspicious.
Guava Moth (right image)
Seen here in its larvae form, the Guava moth is a pest that is present in New Zealand and one that causes some serious problems. Guava moth larvae will enter fruit and eat it from the inside. The fruit might appear bruised or drop early. If you see fruit that appears bruised and has a pin-prick-sized hole, check for one of these, and make sure to report it.