New state & county record for Halyomorpha halys - Halyomorpha halys -  Knoxville, Knox County, Tennessee, USA October 30, 2008 Size: 16.2 mm (Scale bar=5 mm)
Dorsal (a) and ventral (b) aspects of an adult female found in my home. I was in my home office in the wee morning hours, and she literally smacked me in the head, landing stunned on my desk. After taking several photographs, and searching the pentatomids on BugGuide, I was pretty sure this was H. halys. This ID was confirmed by Dr. Paris Lambdin, Hemipteran expert at the University of Tennessee. Note the light banding on the terminal two antennal segments, as well as the alternating light and dark banding on the exposed lateral margins. The absence of teeth on the juga, as well as the smooth anterior pronotal margin also distinguish this from a similar genus, Brochy*mena. The color of the ocelli (which isn't super clear on this image, but is a nice red-violet color) is also pretty diagnostic. I just submitted the new locality record for publication in The Florida Entomologist. It was neat to be the first to report this species from this state, but not so neat that we have a new introduced pest to deal with.
Contributed by J.R. Jones on 3 December, 2008 - 12:50am |