--- title: "Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (Halyomorpha halys) | AnimalTracks.wiki" description: "The shield-shaped bug whose name points to its scent glands, a fruit-eating invader from east Asia that has reached North America and Europe." image: "https://animaltracks.wiki/images/animals/brown-marmorated-stink-bug-1.webp" published: "2026-10-11" updated: "2026-10-11" --- # Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (*Halyomorpha halys*) > **Status**: Checked against 7 sources, listed under Sources below. > **Tagline**: The shield-shaped bug whose name points to its scent glands, a fruit-eating invader from east Asia that has reached North America and Europe. > **Soundtrack Vibe**: 2010s Pop & Electropop // Florence + The Machine, "Dog Days Are Over" > **Soundtrack Links**: [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/track/456WNXWhDwYOSf5SpTuqxd) > **Vibe Match**: A song built from handclaps that gather a crowd, for a bug whose males make an aggregation pheromone that attracted females, males and nymphs in field trials. ## Biological Superpowers & Stats - **Taxonomy**: *Halyomorpha halys* - **Danger Level**: Low - **Conservation Status**: Not Evaluated ([IUCN Red List](https://www.iucnredlist.org/)) - **Superpower**: A male-produced aggregation pheromone that attracted females, males and nymphs in field trials - **Habitat**: Native to China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan; introduced to North America and Europe, where it turns up in fruit crops and in houses - **Diet**: Plant fluids from many host plants, including apples, peaches, beans, corn, tomatoes and soybeans - **Tags**: insect, herbivore, invasive, agricultural, chemical-defense ## Natural History & Behavior ## A Smell With a Job The "stink bug" in its name refers to its scent glands. They sit on top of the abdomen, the rear body section, and under the thorax, the middle section. The defensive chemicals they make can act as an airborne allergen. Sensitive people can get allergic reactions in the nose and eyes. If the bug is crushed against bare skin, it can cause a skin rash where it touched. That seems to affect only a small percentage of people. An adult is about 17 millimetres long. It is brown and shield-shaped, almost as wide as it is long. Animal Diversity Web lists a wild lifespan of 8 to 10 months. ## A Scent Call That Draws a Crowd Males make an aggregation pheromone, a chemical signal that gathers bugs in one place. In field trials, its two main ingredients attracted females, males and nymphs, the young bugs. Mixtures that held related chemicals alongside those two attracted them too, and the researchers say relatively inexpensive mixtures can be used in monitoring and control. In Pennsylvania, adults begin to search for overwintering sites from September through October. Penn State Extension says that on warm fall days they are drawn to the outside of houses in search of sheltered spots for winter, and can enter in large numbers. > **Long-Haul Flyer** In 22-hour tests on a flight mill, a lab device that measures flight, the average male flew 2,442 metres and the average female 2,083 metres. Most bugs (89%) flew under 5 kilometres in the test, though some flew much further, with a maximum of 117 kilometres. ## A Straw for Fruit Its mouthparts are straw-like and made for sucking. It feeds on a wide range of plants, including apples, peaches, beans, corn, tomatoes and soybeans. On apples, its feeding leaves a distortion called "cat facing", which makes the fruit unmarketable as a fresh product. In 2010, bug numbers in the mid-Atlantic United States reached outbreak levels, and feeding severely damaged tree fruit. ## An Accidental Traveller From East Asia Its native range is China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. It was accidentally introduced into eastern Pennsylvania and first collected in Allentown in 1998, although it probably arrived several years earlier. A Penn State Extension fact sheet revised in December 2017 said it had spread throughout most of eastern and western North America. A 2018 review listed introductions into the United States, Canada, multiple European countries and Chile. Europe's first report came in 2008, near Zurich, Switzerland. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### Do stink bugs damage the house they move into? No. Penn State Extension says the bugs do not reproduce inside buildings or cause damage there. Their smell is the problem: if many are crushed or sucked into a vacuum cleaner, it can be quite apparent. The extension calls keeping them out mechanically the best method: cracks around windows, doors and siding should be sealed with caulk. *(Source: [Penn State Extension]())* ### What makes a stink bug take off? Weather. In a still-air test, 83% of the bugs took off, but under 10% did once the wind reached 0.75 metres per second. Temperature mattered too: 3% took off at 10 to 15 degrees C, against 87% at 25 to 30 degrees C. *(Source: [Lee & Leskey 2015]())* ### How does a stink bug grow up? Eggs are attached to the underside of leaves in masses of 20 to 30. The nymphs that hatch go through five stages called instars, growing from 2.4 millimetres in the first to 12 millimetres in the fifth. Adults emerge in spring, from late April to mid-May, in Pennsylvania. *(Source: [Penn State Extension]())* ## Sources 1. [Brown marmorated stink bug. Penn State Extension.]() 2. [Halyomorpha halys (brown marmorated stink bug). Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan.]() 3. [Leskey & Nielsen (2018). Impact of the Invasive Brown Marmorated Stink Bug in North America and Europe: History, Biology, Ecology, and Management. Annual Review of Entomology.]() 4. [Lee & Leskey (2015). Flight behavior of foraging and overwintering brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae). Bulletin of Entomological Research.]() 5. [Khrimian et al. (2014). Discovery of the Aggregation Pheromone of the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug ( Halyomorpha halys ) through the Creation of Stereoisomeric Libraries of 1-Bisabolen-3-ols. Journal of Natural Products.]() 6. [Zhu et al. (2012). Potential Geographic Distribution of Brown Marmorated Stink Bug Invasion (Halyomorpha halys). PLoS ONE.]() 7. [Lee et al. (2013). Review of the Biology, Ecology, and Management of Halyomorpha halys (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) in China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea. Environmental Entomology.]() *Published October 11, 2026. Last updated October 11, 2026.* ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Article", "@id": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/brown-marmorated-stink-bug/#article", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://animaltracks.wiki/#website" }, "headline": "Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (Halyomorpha halys) | AnimalTracks.wiki", "description": "The shield-shaped bug whose name points to its scent glands, a fruit-eating invader from east Asia that has reached North America and Europe.", "image": [ "https://animaltracks.wiki/images/animals/brown-marmorated-stink-bug-1.webp" ], "datePublished": "2026-10-11", "dateModified": "2026-10-11", "author": [ { "@type": "Organization", "name": "AnimalTracks.wiki Editorial Team", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki" } ], "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://animaltracks.wiki/#organization", "name": "AnimalTracks.wiki", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/icon-512.png" } }, "mainEntityOfPage": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/brown-marmorated-stink-bug/", "citation": [ { "@type": "CreativeWork", "name": "Brown marmorated stink bug", "url": "https://extension.psu.edu/brown-marmorated-stink-bug", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Penn State Extension" } }, { "@type": "CreativeWork", "name": "Halyomorpha halys (brown marmorated stink bug)", "url": "https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Halyomorpha_halys/", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan" } }, { "@type": "ScholarlyArticle", "name": "Impact of the Invasive Brown Marmorated Stink Bug in North America and Europe: History, Biology, Ecology, and Management", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ento-020117-043226", "author": "Leskey & Nielsen", "datePublished": "2018", "isPartOf": { "@type": "Periodical", "name": "Annual Review of Entomology" }, "identifier": "doi:10.1146/annurev-ento-020117-043226" }, { "@type": "ScholarlyArticle", "name": "Flight behavior of foraging and overwintering brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae)", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1017/s0007485315000462", "author": "Lee & Leskey", "datePublished": "2015", "isPartOf": { "@type": "Periodical", "name": "Bulletin of Entomological Research" }, "identifier": "doi:10.1017/s0007485315000462" }, { "@type": "ScholarlyArticle", "name": "Discovery of the Aggregation Pheromone of the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug ( Halyomorpha halys ) through the Creation of Stereoisomeric Libraries of 1-Bisabolen-3-ols", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1021/np5003753", "author": "Khrimian et al.", "datePublished": "2014", "isPartOf": { "@type": "Periodical", "name": "Journal of Natural Products" }, "identifier": "doi:10.1021/np5003753" }, { "@type": "ScholarlyArticle", "name": "Potential Geographic Distribution of Brown Marmorated Stink Bug Invasion (Halyomorpha halys)", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0031246", "author": "Zhu et al.", "datePublished": "2012", "isPartOf": { "@type": "Periodical", "name": "PLoS ONE" }, "identifier": "doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0031246" }, { "@type": "ScholarlyArticle", "name": "Review of the Biology, Ecology, and Management of Halyomorpha halys (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) in China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1603/en13006", "author": "Lee et al.", "datePublished": "2013", "isPartOf": { "@type": "Periodical", "name": "Environmental Entomology" }, "identifier": "doi:10.1603/en13006" } ], "about": { "@type": "Taxon", "name": "Brown Marmorated Stink Bug", "scientificName": "Halyomorpha halys", "description": "A male-produced aggregation pheromone that attracted females, males and nymphs in field trials" } }, { "@type": "FAQPage", "@id": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/brown-marmorated-stink-bug/#faq", "mainEntity": [ { "@type": "Question", "name": "Do stink bugs damage the house they move into?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "No. Penn State Extension says the bugs do not reproduce inside buildings or cause damage there. Their smell is the problem: if many are crushed or sucked into a vacuum cleaner, it can be quite apparent. The extension calls keeping them out mechanically the best method: cracks around windows, doors and siding should be sealed with caulk.", "citation": { "@type": "CreativeWork", "name": "Brown marmorated stink bug", "url": "https://extension.psu.edu/brown-marmorated-stink-bug", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Penn State Extension" } } } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "What makes a stink bug take off?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Weather. In a still-air test, 83% of the bugs took off, but under 10% did once the wind reached 0.75 metres per second. Temperature mattered too: 3% took off at 10 to 15 degrees C, against 87% at 25 to 30 degrees C.", "citation": { "@type": "ScholarlyArticle", "name": "Flight behavior of foraging and overwintering brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae)", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1017/s0007485315000462", "author": "Lee & Leskey", "datePublished": "2015", "isPartOf": { "@type": "Periodical", "name": "Bulletin of Entomological Research" }, "identifier": "doi:10.1017/s0007485315000462" } } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "How does a stink bug grow up?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Eggs are attached to the underside of leaves in masses of 20 to 30. The nymphs that hatch go through five stages called instars, growing from 2.4 millimetres in the first to 12 millimetres in the fifth. Adults emerge in spring, from late April to mid-May, in Pennsylvania.", "citation": { "@type": "CreativeWork", "name": "Brown marmorated stink bug", "url": "https://extension.psu.edu/brown-marmorated-stink-bug", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Penn State Extension" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "MusicRecording", "name": "Dog Days Are Over", "byArtist": { "@type": "MusicGroup", "name": "Florence + The Machine" }, "genre": "2010s Pop & Electropop", "url": "https://open.spotify.com/track/456WNXWhDwYOSf5SpTuqxd" } ] } ```