Southern Green Stink Bug, Nezara viridula
(Hemiptera: Pentatomidae)

The southern green stink bug is distributed throughout the southern portion of the United States and is found throughout the growing season. The life cycle generally takes 65 to 75 days. The southern green stink bug overwinters as an adult and hides under bark and leaf litter or other places where it can be protected from the environment. Eggs are deposited on the underside of leaves in the upper canopy of the plant. Eggs are white and tend to turn pink as they mature. At hatching, the nymphs are light yellow but turn green as they mature. The adult is shield-shaped and is dull green. The abdomen is completely covered by the wings.

The southern green stink bug feeds on many different plants. It has piercing-sucking mouthparts and may damage foliage or fruits. It may also transmit bacterial spot of tomato when feeding on tomato plants. Economic thresholds are available for many crops that are attacked by southern green stink bug, so control measures may be applied at the correct time. Biological control is helpful when managing the population, but may not provide sufficient control under all situations. The use of trap crops, especially early plantings, is a common management technique that is employed when southern green stink bug is expected to be a problem.

Images

To save the Web-optimized images shown below to your hard drive:

PC users: right click to "Save Picture (or Image) As..."
Mac users: click and drag to your desktop.


Eggs of southern green stink bug, Nezara viridula.
(Photographer: J. Castner, University of Florida)

Click to access Display and Print quality images.


Southern green stink bugs, Nezara viridula, mating.
(Photographer: P. Choate, University of Florida)

Click to access Display and Print quality images.


Southern green stink bug, Nezara viridula, adult.
(Photo J. Castner, University of Florida)

Click to access Display and Print quality images.

Return to Index

Copyright © 2005 University of Florida