Yellow Spotted Stink Bug found in South Canterbury

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has initiated a biosecurity response following confirmation of a single, unmated female Yellow Spotted Stink Bug (YSSB) found last week in Temuka, South Canterbury.

KVH has notified ‘KiwiNet’ – a group of industry people selected by their organisations to form the kiwifruit industry capability network for biosecurity readiness and response.

MPI are asking the South Canterbury community to help by looking out for any further YSSB bugs and to call the Exotic Pest and Disease Hotline 0800 80 99 66 to report any suspect sightings.

MPI occasionally intercept live and dead specimens of YSSB. To date, these have all been single individual bugs - not breeding populations.

MPI investigators have carried out surveillance at the property and surrounding area where the bug was found to confirm there are no more present. Nearby transitional facilities have also been inspected and no further finds have been made.

Limited information is available on the potential impacts and host range of this species. However, the host range could include several species of economic importance to New Zealand. At this stage it is unknown whether kiwifruit would be significantly impacted if the YSSB was to establish in New Zealand.

YSSB isn’t considered as potentially damaging as Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB). Unlike BMSB, YSSB is not known to be an urban nuisance pest anywhere in the world.

YSSB is typically a hitchhiker pest, which means, for example, that they could arrive here from overseas in containers or used machinery and vehicles.

This is the first biosecurity response carried out under the Government Industry Agreement on biosecurity readiness and response (GIA). Kiwifruit Vine Health (KVH) is working in partnership with MPI and Pipfruit NZ.

For more details and a description, please see the Yellow Spotted Stink Bug fact sheet here.