Bugs raise quite a stink

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News

August 3, 2011 - 12:00 AM

“There are locusts all over the ground behind Flynn Appliance Center (11 N. Jefferson Ave.) and on the courthouse lawn,” said a note left at the Register.
A reporter went to see, finding  nothing on the courthouse lawn but in a grassy area behind Deep Creek Engineering, 10 N. Sycamore St. — just east of Flynn’s — dozens of bugs were whizzing just above the grass, cutting didos the envy of the best of acrobatic pilots.
The insects weren’t locusts, but some variety of the Pentatomidea family, better known hereabouts as shield bugs and — you guessed it — infamous stink bugs.
A few minutes of searching the Internet revealed that stink bug females lay 30 to 130 eggs at a time in whatever foliage is at hand.
That usually occurs sometime in June followed by a five-day gestational period when the eggs hatch within 90 minutes of each other.
That accounts for so many popping out of the grass and taking flight at one time.
They have hardened shells and get their common name from glands in their thorax between the first and second pair of legs that produce a foul-smelling liquid. The bugs release the liquid as a defensive measure.
They are a pest in crop fields — soybeans are a favorite — to satisfy their hunger for sap.
According to Wikipedia, there are about 7,000 species of Pentatomidea, divided under 15 families.

EVEN THOUGH the infestation wasn’t locusts, many Iolans have reported seeing an unusually large number of locusts this year.
Small holes in lawns hardened by lack of rain and plentiful heat usually are the escape routes for locusts come to the surface to shed their soft shells that turn crisp and sometimes are collected by youngsters. The shells usually are found affixed to the bark of trees.
Locusts are among the most well-known of insects because of their size and the distinctive “music” they make with timbals activated by their stomach muscles.
After mating, females lay eggs, with newly hatched nymphs dropping to the ground where they immediately burrow in. The emergence occurs in two to five years locally, depending on the species, and in some cases the time lag between burrowing and emergence is as long as 17 years in North America.

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