The Government is asking travellers, arriving in NSW from Europe or Asia, to check their luggage for brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The smelly pest was recently detected in a NSW home, after a traveller who had arrived from Asia put the stink bug in a jar and froze it, before calling the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Confirmed as a brown marmorated stink<\/a> bug by DPI scientists, further investigations detected another stink bug hidden in the pocket of a pair of pants from the luggage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n DPI is undertaking ongoing surveillance to ensure no stink bugs have escaped or established outside the house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brown marmorated stink bugs are known to stow away in cargo from the northern hemisphere from September to April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The pest hibernates in winter and detection now in summer is crucial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Feeding on more than 300 plant species, it would be extremely difficult and expensive to manage if allowed to establish in Australia as it is not easily controlled with pesticides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An adult brown marmorated stink bug is approximately 12 to 17 mm long and 7 to 10 mm wide, about the size of a five-cent coin, and emits a pungent odour when disturbed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brown marmorated stink bugs vary in colour, but generally have mottled brown bodies with white bands on antennae, legs and the sides of their abdomen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This stink bug feeds on fruiting plants, including ornamentals and vegetables. Its preferred plants include apples, peaches, raspberries, sweet corn, green beans, capsicums and tomatoes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In August 2018, brown marmorated stink bug was successfully eradicated in NSW following the detection of the pest in western Sydney warehouses in the 2017-18 summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Importation rules for cargo arriving from high-risk locations have been strengthened and increased seasonal surveillance from September to April has been in place since the 2017 detection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Find out more about the brown marmorated stink bug<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Minister for Agriculture, Regional and Western NSW, Tara Moriarty said: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLook for brown marmorated stink bug in your luggage, including clothes and shoes, around the home and in yards and call the NSW Exotic Plant Pest Hotline, 1800 084 881<\/a> if you find any \u2013 dead or alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNot only does this stink bug release a disgusting odour, it\u2019s a serious threat to households and horticultural industries as it damages plants, including vegetable and fruit crops and ornamental trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSheltering in large numbers in buildings and equipment during the winter months, it\u2019s a nuisance pest for businesses and households.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis exotic pest is not present in Australia and infrequent detections associated with imports and international travel have been managed through diligent surveillance by national and state biosecurity authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Government is asking travellers, arriving in NSW from Europe or Asia, to check their luggage for brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys. The smelly pest was recently detected in a NSW home, after a traveller who had arrived from Asia put the stink bug in a jar and froze it, before calling the NSW … Continue reading “Stinky stowaways found lurking in NSW luggage”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nswnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25293"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25294,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25293\/revisions\/25294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}