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Joseph F. Boggs, Ohio State University Extension, Hamilton County/Southwest District; Curtis E. Young, David J. Shetlar, James A. Chatfield, Erik A. Draper, Pamela J. Bennett, Gary Y. Gao, |
Household and Nuisance Pests
The most common and challenging home invader this past season was the multicolored Asian lady beetle (Harmonia axyridis). The same was true last year (8). A new OSU Extension Fact Sheet #HSE-1030-01, titled Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle, provided information helpful to homeowners dealing with this pesky intruder. The Fact Sheet is available at OSU Extension county offices or on the Web at: http://ohioline.osu.edu/hse-fact/1030.html.
Boxelder bugs (Boisea trivittata) took second in the 2001 home invader competition. Although boxelder bugs are usually considered a spring and fall pest, BYGLers reported finding high numbers around Ohio homes well into the summer. For example, in late June, Amy Stone's (OSU Extension, Lucas County) very observant children discovered "red mulch" at a neighbors home. Upon closer inspection, Amy found the red tint was actually being furnished by teeming masses of boxelder bug nymphs.
Adults are 1/2" long, elliptical in shape, and have flat backs. They are predominantly brownish-black, but their thorax has three longitudinal red stripes and their wings are trimmed in red. The nymphs have bluish-black legs, wing pads, and thorax, but their most obvious feature is a large, oblong, bright red abdomen.
Boxelder bugs are generally most obvious in the fall, when gangs of adults loiter around homes, checking out places to spend the winter. Their occasional breaking and entering earns them a reputation as a nuisance pest and nearby boxelder trees are usually implicated in the crime. However, large numbers of immature bugs are sometimes found in the spring and early summer on and around other landscape plants.
While the bugs seem to prefer to feed on boxelder seeds, they may also suck sap from seeds, leaves, and tender twigs of maple and ash, and from the fruit of plum, cherry, apple, peach, grape, and strawberries. Their sampling of fruit causes scarring and dimpling which may mimic plant bug injury. Damaging populations are seldom seen on these alternate hosts, but the insect should be monitored and a suppression spray considered if the "red mulch" syndrome is observed beneath fruit trees.