Problem statement: Stink bugs were not major pests of cotton in the southeastern United States until cotton varieties containing Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) transgenes came into common use, enabling reductions in insecticide applications against highly destructive lepidopteran pests. To maintain the benefits of reduced insecticide applications, it would be advantageous to detect and target isol...

Detecting infestations of stink bugs (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) using pheromones remains problematic, particularly so in the United States for the exotic stink bug, Nezara viridula L., and our native stink bug, Acrosternum hilare (Say). Therefore, we conducted a 2-yr on-farm study to examine the attractiveness and possible cross-attraction of the reported pheromones for N. viridula and A. hila...

Different biological parameters of the stink bugs, Nezara viridula L. and Piezodorus guildinii Westwood (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), are affected by the developmental stage of the soybean (Glycine max Merrill) pods they feed on. These effects of the soybean on the stink bugs could represent a selection pressure leading to the ability of these species to discriminate the phenological stage of soyb...

Key impediments to increased corn yield and quality in the southeastern US coastal plain region are damage by ear-feeding insects and aflatoxin contamination caused by infection of Aspergillus flavus. Key ear-feeding insects are corn earworm, Helicoverpa zea, fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, maize weevil, Sitophilus zeamais, and brown stink bug, Euschistus servus. In 2006 and 2007, aflatox...

BACKGROUND Litchi stink-bug, Tessaratoma papillosa Drury (Hemiptera: Tessaratomidae), is one of the most widespread and destructive pest species on Litchi chinensis Sonn and Dimocarpus longan Lour in Southern China. Inappropriate use of chemical pesticides has resulted in serious environmental problems and food pollution. Generating an improved Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategy for litc...

In fall 2000, an on-farm sustainable agricultural research project was established for cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., in Tift County, Georgia. The objective of our 2-yr research project was to determine the impact of several cover crops on pest and predator insects in cotton. The five cover crop treatments included 1) cereal rye, Secale cereale L., a standard grass cover crop; 2) crimson clover...

It is generally recommended that broadleaf plants in and around peach orchards must be controlled to minimize damage from stink bugs (Pentatomidae) and plant bugs (Lygus spp.). In research orchards located in West Virginia, USA, I have been growing peach trees as a monoculture or interplanted with apple, with and without the presence of broadleaf flowering plants. The flowering plants were used...

Both enantiomers of 15-hexadecanolide, a sex pheromone component of the stink bug (Piezodorus hybneri), were synthesized by using the Yamaguchi or Mitsunobu macrolactonization reaction of (R)-15-hydroxyhexadecanoic acid prepared from ethyl (R)-β-hydroxybutyrate in 5 steps.