We had an email from Kale Print recently – whom we use for production of many of our awareness materials – about a suspect exotic stink bug …

“Hey there, I just found this guy walking along the floor in our Kale office. What do I do? Is he a baddie or a goodie? Looks kind of like the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB) in the calendar we print for your growers but I’m not sure.”

The bug (pictured – or click here to enlarge) turned out to be a common brown soldier bug, present in New Zealand and although very similar looking to the BMSB, it’s identifiable because of the yellow crescent moon on its back.

It’s great that we have yet another example of people and businesses that operate around the kiwifruit growing community keeping an eye out and knowing that if they spot anything unusual and potentially a threat, to catch it, take a photo, and report it.