Halyomorpha halys Stahl

Gupta, Ruchie & Pathania, P. C., 2017, Report on Hemipteran pest diversity on apple plantations (Malus domestica Borkh.) in Jammu and Kashmir State of India, Records of the Zoological Survey of India 117 (4), pp. 356-356 : 356-

Halyomorpha halys Stahl (Plate-1, Figure. c)

Taxonomic status: Hemiptera : Pentatomidae : Pentatominae

Distribution: Japan, Korea and China, United States ( Hamilton, 2009) and India (Gupta, 2013).

Present Locality: The pest has been recorded from Bhaderwah (Distt. Doda ), Kishtwar (Distt. Kishtwar), Budhal (Distt. Rajouri) and Mandi (District Poonch) areas of Jammu Province of Jammu and Kashmir State .

Host plants: Found on a variety of plants viz. peach, Asian pear, apple, cherry, raspberry, grape, currant, soyabean, corn, green bean, pepper, crab apple, persimmon, catalpa, walnut, maple, rose ( Welty et al., 2008; Gyeltshen, 2005 and Gupta, 2013).

Diagnostic features: Body light brown, punctuate, shield shaped; head freely movable, ophisthognathus, punctate, shorter and narrower than the dorsal sclereite of the thorax (pronotum),free,with side margins generally expanded over bases of antennae;compound eyes prominent,bulged,placed sideways, fits in between the lateral gap formed of head and pronotum; ocelli 2, oval, red, placed in between and towards the base of the eye, inwardly directed; Feelers 5-segmented filiform, hairy. Beak arises from front of the head, medium sized, 4-segmented,, extends to hind coxae reaching second abdominal segment, placed within the post sternal groove extending to mid coxae; pronotum hexagonal, punctuate, does not cover the base of the scutellum; lateral margins entire except a small spine at the anterolateral angle, a pair of impunctate markings with a smooth yellow spot below it towards the anterior margin; pronotum with posterior margin convex and proclinate anteriorly; scutellum large, convex, punctuate, broad, more or less triangular, narrows towards end and slightly covers the edges of the membranes of the forewing, spot at anterolateral angles dark brown with impunctate area at the base; forewing punctuate, embolium present between corium and clavus, corium does not extend at the apical margin of the membrane; legs unequal, meta legs largest, front coxa round and smaller than the mid and hind coxa, femora pubescent with brown spots except at the basad, tibia pubescent, spotted, not armed with strong spines; tarsus segmented, hairy; bearing pointed nails or claws; abdominal margins slightly visible dorsally through the wings, trichobothria present.

Damage: Bug is a sap sucker found feeding on apple leaves and twigs. Bug infestation can be estimated by a pithy area beneath the skin of the fruit which is white to brown lesions on the leaves indicated Leaf feeding. These bugs produce a specific irritant acidic odour that many humans find offensive. They are harmless and do not cause damage to humans.