If you live in stink bug country, you may have noticed that you’re not home alone anymore.
Clinging to your screens, creeping up your walls, hiding in your lamp shades and nestling in your laundry basket are the latest home invaders of the buggy sort.
The brown marmorated stink bug is on the move, sneaking its way into your house, if not your heart, as it seeks a warm and cozy place to spend the winter.
This prehistoric-looking bug, shield-shaped and dressed in dull brown, is appearing in large numbers this season in many parts of the state, making strong men recoil and little children shriek. We women, of a more practical bent, plot their demise or just threaten to pack our bags and leave.
Where did they come from and what are they up to? The stink bugs in question are Chinese imports, first reported around Allentown, Pa., in 1996. They probably arrived in packing material with shipped goods — isn’t everything we buy these days made in China? Since touching down in America, the Asian stink bug has made remarkable progress for an insect that can take half an afternoon to make its way across your living room... read more
