Photoperiod-Specific within-Cotton Distribution of the Green Stink Bug (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae): Implications for Detection and Sampling

Stink bugs continue to be serious economic pests in cotton and other crops, and their pest status has been elevated in recent years as many have been implicated as disease vectors. Sampling methods for detecting stink bugs, such as sweep net, beat cloth, and beat bucket, continue to be intensive, time consuming, and yield variable results. To identify when and where stink bugs are most likely to occur on cotton for scouting and insect management, field-collected stink bugs with fluorescent markings where used to infest cotton-maintained insect free previous to infestation. In this 2-year field study, mark-recapture field experiments were conducted using over six hundred adult green stink bugs, Acrosternum hilarum. Insects were marked with non-toxic fluorescent sharpie markers, released, and monitored in cotton fields at peak-bloom. Stink bugs where monitored visually in the daytime and at nighttime using handheld blacklight. Within-cotton distribution insect data such as plant canopy placement, fruit position, and floral bract orientation were collected at day and night intervals for 72h. Implications of this work on detection protocols for stink bugs will be discussed.