Lychee stink bugs, which react by spraying a foul-smelling and corrosive liquid when disturbed, are emerging in large numbers to breed, officials said on Monday last week, advising the public to be cautious.
The shield-shaped, yellow-brown bugs feed on the nectar from lychee or longan flowers, researchers from the Council of Agriculture’s Kaohsiung District Agricultural Improvement Station said.
During the mating season from March to May, the sheer number of stink bugs feeding on fruit trees could cause their flowers to wilt, and could lead to significant losses in the quality and quantity of fruit harvests, they said.
The bugs prefer to lay eggs on the back of leaves and sometimes on clothing that is left outdoors, the researchers added.
People should not approach or swat a stink bug with their bare hands, as the liquid released by the bug causes painful sores, they said.
Instead, people should use a stick to knock on the part of the branch above the bug and herd it into a plastic bag before disposing of it, they said.
Farmers are advised to apply chlorpyrifos or cyhalothrin-based solutions on their fruit trees to mitigate the damage, they said.
To combat the bugs, the Council of Agriculture and its academic partners have introduced the stink bug’s natural enemy, the parasitic wasp Anastatus japonicus, the researchers said.
Changhua County Department of Agriculture officials last week released 50,000 of the wasps in a bid to reduce stink bug numbers, as they have since last year been causing significant agricultural damage in the county and blistering farmers, they said.
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