Scientists at the University of Georgia are seeking the public's help in tracking stink bugs.

 Sharon Dowdy – University of Georgia entomologists are asking Georgians to help track an insect that loves to stow away in homes and has the potential to hurt the state’s cotton and blueberry crops.

The brown marmorated stink bug, a native of Asia, was first spotted in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in 1998 and has since been found in 42 states and two Canadian provinces, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. To date, it is classified as a nuisance pest in Georgia, but could quickly become an agricultural pest, too.  Paul Guillebeau, an entomologist with the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, decided to find out how many Georgians are unwillingly hosting the pest.

Click here to participate in Gullibeau’s tracking survey. The three-question survey will remain open until responses begin to dwindle, and the state has been represented.

Guillebeau likens the pest to lady beetles and kudzu bugs that also torment homeowners by slipping through the tiniest crack to find a warm spot indoors. The stink bugs are first attracted to light and then to the warmer temperatures indoors.

UGA research professional Brian Little began tracking the brown marmorated stink bug’s movement in January as part of a collaborative project with scientist Jim Walgenbach at North Carolina State University. Little set up stink bug stations at Gullibeau’s house, where he monitors the temperature at which the bugs come out of their diapause, or physiological state of dormancy.  Little recently completed his master’s degree from the college on the UGA campus in Tifton where he studied how southern green and brown stink bugs affect cotton crops.

“These stink bugs target the quarter-sized cotton bolls, and pesticide applications are applied when the plants are loading bolls at that stage,” he said. “When the bolls become larger and harder, the southern green and brown stink bugs stop attacking the cotton plants.”  Unfortunately, this is when the brown marmorated stink bug takes over. It attacks the larger sized, hardened cotton bolls.  “They are more of an issue in apples, tomatoes and other fruit in the North and they have just recently moved into Georgia. We do not want them to become an issue in Georgia cotton production or get into our blueberries,” Little said.