Stink bug biocontrol plan

Date: 20.04.2018

BMSB Council wants to release Samurai wasp to combat stink bugs

The Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB) Council has made an application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to release the Samurai wasp to help combat a BMSB incursion should it reach New Zealand.

BMSB is one the biggest biosecurity threats facing New Zealand and can potentially cause significant economic damage to the horticulture industry. According to studies conducted overseas, the Samurai wasp can destroy more than 70% of the eggs in a stink bug egg mass.

The wasp does not sting and is harmless to humans but is a natural enemy of the stink bug. The female wasp lays her eggs inside stink bug eggs, killing the stink bug in the process. 
Options to control a BMSM incursion are limited and the only tool currently available is the

usage of broad-spectrum chemicals. The samurai wasp presents a targeted and self-sustaining control tool that could be used and provides growers with an option other than increasing insecticide sprays.

Public submissions are open until 5pm, Thursday, 24 May 2018.

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