Black Cherry as A Host Plant For Stink Bugs (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) in Agroecosystems in Georgia, USA

Abstract Stink bugs (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) are polyphagous pests that disperse from woodland habitats into crops following food availability. Black cherry (Prunus serotina Ehrh.; Rosaceae) is common in the southeast US. In this 3-yr study, our principal objective was to determine if black cherry acts as a reproductive host as well as a source of food for stink bugs in woodland habitats adjacent to crops in Georgia, USA. Each yr, black cherry trees were examined visually for stink bug species and stages in addition to using pheromone-baited canopy and ground traps to capture them. In 2016, we compared the number of stink bugs captured in canopy traps versus ground-based traps. Chinavia hilaris Say, Euschistus servus (Say), Euschistus tristigmus (Say), and Nezara viridula (L.) (all Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) were detected in traps each yr of the study. Total number of stink bugs was significantly higher in ground traps (1.53 ± 0.07) compared to canopy traps (0.71 ± 0.07) in the 2016 test. Only C. hilaris (99.2%) and N. viridula (0.8%) were found on trees during visual sampling. Over both types of sampling methods, egg masses, most instars, and both sexes of adults of C. hilaris were detected in black cherry. The nymph to adult ratio for this species was 1:1 in traps and nymph biased in visual samples. Anastatus reduvii (Howard) (Hymenoptera: Eupelmidae) (44%), Trissolcus edessae Fouts (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) (35%), and Ooencyrtus sp. (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) (21%) emerged from C. hilaris egg masses. The nymph to adult ratio for N. viridula was adult biased. Both nymphs and adults of E. servus and E. tristigmus were captured in traps; however, the majority of individuals were adults. We conclude that black cherry is a significant reproductive host and a food source for C. hilaris. However, our results indicate that it serves as a food source more so than a reproductive host for the other 3 stink bug species.