Acrosternum hilare
| Green stink bug | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hemiptera |
| Family: | Pentatomidae |
| Subfamily: | Pentatominae |
| Tribe: | Pentatomini |
| Genus: | Chinavia |
| Species: | C. hilaris |
| Binomial name | |
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Chinavia hilaris Say, 1832 |
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| Synonyms | |
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The green stink bug or green soldier bug (Chinavia hilaris) is a stink bug belonging to the family Pentatomidae.
It was historically placed in the genus Acrosternum, but according to Dr. David Rider of North Dakota State University and other experts, this placement is inaccurate; the genus name Acrosternum should be restricted to a handful of Old World, small, pale green species that live in dry arid areas, while the larger, brighter green species that live in both the Old and New Worlds should go by the genus name Chinavia, therefore this species is called Chinavia hilaris in more recent literature (e.g., Schwertner and Grazia, 2006).
The green stink bug's color is typically bright green, with narrow yellow, orange, or reddish edges. It is a large, shield-shaped bug with an elongate, oval form and a length between 13–18 mm. It can be differentiated from the species Nezara viridula by its black outermost three antennal segments. Its anterolateral (= in front and away from the middle) pronotal margin is rather straight and not strongly arced such as in Acrosternum pennsylvanicum.
Both adults and nymphs have large stink glands on the underside of the thorax extending more than half-way to the edge of the metapleuron. They discharge large amounts of this foul-smelling liquid when disturbed. This liquid, dried and pulverized, was once used at industrial level to reinforce the smell of some acids. Now it's been replaced by artificial composites.
It is found in orchards, gardens, woodlands and crop fields throughout North America, feeding with their needle-like mouthparts on the juices of a wide variety of plants from May until the arrival of frost. Adults develop a preference for developing seeds and thus become crop pests (tomato, bean, pea, cotton, corn, soybean, eggplant). When no seeds are present, they also feed on stems and foliage, thus damaging several fruit trees, such as the apple, cherry, orange and peach trees.
They attach their keg-shaped eggs on the underside of foliage in double rows of twelve eggs or more. The green stink bug produces one generation in the North and two generations in the South. The early instar nymphs are rather brightly colored and striped, turning green when approaching adulthood.
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Wikipedia