Green Stink Bug
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hemiptera
Family: Pentatomidae
Subfamily: Pentatominae
Tribe: Pentatomini
Genus: Acrosternum
Species: A. hilare
Binomial name: Acrosternum hilare
Common name: Green Stink Bug
The green stink bug or green soldier bug (Acrosternum hilare) is a stink bug belonging to the family Pentatomidae. Its colour is typically bright green, with narrow yellow, orange, or reddish edges. It is a large, shield-shaped bug with an elongate, oval form and a length between 13-18 mm.
The Pentatomidae are often called stink bugs because when handled they emit a strong smell. The nymphs have prominent glands on the upper (dorsal) side of their abdomen, while adults have glands between the base of their legs. The chemicals may deter predators and cause other bugs to drop to the ground, but some of the chemicals produced may also act as aggregation pheromones.
They are a pest found in orchards, gardens, woodlands and crop fields feeding with their needle-like mouthparts on the juices of a wide variety of plants. Adults develop a preference for developing seeds and thus become crop pests (tomato, bean, pea, cotton, corn, soybean, eggplant). When no seeds are present, they also feed on stems and foliage, thus damaging several fruit trees, such as the apple, cherry, orange and peach trees
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