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There’s a new, stinky pest lurking in the Okanagan and the Ministry of Agriculture is asking local residents to help sniff it out.
The ministry is asking people to keep their eyes peeled for brown marmorated stink bugs seeking winter refuge inside homes and buildings.
Adults are 13 to 17 mm long, and can be distinguished from other brown stink bugs by the distinctive white bands on their antennae and their tendency to cluster together in groups.
The bug isn’t dangerous to people but can be totally devastating to many kinds of plants vital to the Okanagan, including tree fruits, berries and grapes.
It can also be a big pain for homeowners, as adult bugs clump together on and inside buildings to keep warm during the winter.
This year, for the first time ever, some of the pests were found in B.C. Over the spring and summer a few were identified in Penticton, and more were found in the Kitsilano area of Vancouver and Chilliwack.
The bugs are excellent hitchhikers, clinging to shipping containers, wood, wood-packing
material, cargo and vehicles
Native to Asia, they were first identified in North America in 2001, when they showed up in Pennsylvania.
Since then, they have spread across the mid-Atlantic US, and are now creeping into Canada.
In the US, they have already causing tens of millions of dollars of damage each year as they feed on more than 100 different plant species.
Their feeding punctures result in small dead areas on fruit, vegetables and leaves. Brown marmorated stink bugs can also be a contamination issue for grapes because even a few adults present at crush can taint wine.
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