A brown marmorated stink bug
/ photo: Cornell University
GENEVA (AP) -- Agricultural researchers at Cornell University are asking for the public's help tracking an invasive stink bug that's quickly becoming a serious farm pest.
It's called the brown marmorated stink bug, a native of Asia that showed up in Allentown, Pa. around 1996. Since then, it has spread to five mid-Atlantic states, and this year it appeared in Ulster County in the Hudson Valley. The bugs caused catastrophic damage to crops in 2010.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded $5 million to 13 institutions across 10 states to study the bug and control methods.
Cornell's Hudson Valley Regional Fruit Program is asking people to send in stink bugs they find, or email photos of them to pjj5@cornell.edu. There is a photo of the brown marmorated stink bug on the website and included with this story.
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