Meet the destructive invasive species trying to get in your home this fall
They don't bite or sting, but the brown marmorated stink bug can cause big problems.
They don't bite or sting, but the brown marmorated stink bug can cause big problems.
It's fall, and that means temperatures are starting to drop. With that, insects are looking for warm places, like your home, to hunker down for the cooler months ahead.
Some of these bugs, like spiders and centipedes, likely won't come as a surprise. But others may look new to you.
Take, for example, the brown marmorated stink bug. Measuring about 2 cm long and wide, with a flat, brown abdomen, it is native to Asia. It’s here in North America because it was accidentally introduced to the U.S. in 1998.
"They were first detected in Ontario in 2010," Cynthia Scott-Dupree, Ph.D., a professor of sustainable pest management at the University of Guelph, told The Weather Network in 2022.
"It has since become established in Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia."
While we're focusing on this particular invasive stink bug species, there are several native stink bugs present in Ontario. Some are pests, like the brown marmorated stink bug, and other species are considered beneficial because they act like a natural biological control, hunting and consuming pest insects. The pest insects, on the other hand, can cause significant damage to crops.
Stink bugs aren't toxic, but they are armed with a defence mechanism that isn't too hard to figure out, given their name.
When disturbed, they release a foul-smelling chemical, but you typically won't pick it up unless there's a group of them.
You'll likely see brown marmorated stink bugs congregating on brick surfaces on warm, autumn days, attempting to absorb some of the heat. They're also looking for a way to get inside.
If they do find their way indoors, here's the good news: They aren't likely to cause any structural damage, and they don't bite, nor do they sting. But when you zoom out, on a nationwide scale, they come with their fair share of problems.
(Stink bug. Credit: Wikimedia/Public Domain - CC0 1.0/Martin Thoma.)
Stink bug life stages
Warren Wong, an entomologist at the University of British Columbia (UBC), recently spoke with The Weather Network about stink bugs. He says after stink bugs enter people’s homes in the fall, they try to hibernate through the winter, using fat reserves to survive.
“In the spring - they come out and feed on anything that's around, [and] In the summer - they are out feeding on more mature plants, including our crops. This is when they mate, lay eggs,” he says.
Damage to agriculture
The marmorated stink bug feeds on about 170 species of plants, namely agricultural crops, posing a risk to farmers. In 2010, they decimated apple crops in the Mid-Atlantic United States, resulting in $37 million (U.S.) in damages.
Wong says Canada’s agricultural crops have largely been spared from stink bug damage, in part due to our colder winters.
But stink bugs reproduce at a rate of about two generations per year. If the weather continues to warm and extend seasons, there is potential for a third generation, which means population numbers will steadily increase in the fall, when apple crops are ready for harvest.
Efforts to control stink bugs are ongoing, but you can make your home less appealing to them by:
Cleaning and vacuuming regularly.
Removing crumbs from counters and the floor.
Storing food in air-tight containers.
Sealing cracks and openings in windows, doors, and walls.
Fixing leaky faucets and cracks in your plumbing.
Removing moisture with a dehumidifier.
This report was produced by Kevin Clarke.