Wisconsin hit by new invasive insects – Audio
Wisconsin hit by new invasive insects
PJ Liesch, Extension Entomologist, Insect Diagnostic Lab
Department of Entomology
UW-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences
pliesch@wisc.edu
Phone (608) 262-6510
3:07 – Total Time
0:18 – Stink bug threat
1:05 – Two new beetle invaders
2:38 – Contact for more information
2:58 – Lead out
TRANSCRIPT
Sevie Kenyon: Some new invasive insects to be aware of, we are visiting today with PJ Liesch, Extension Entomologist Insect Diagnostic Lab University of Wisconsin-Madison in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, and I’m Sevie Kenyon. PJ, we have some unwelcome guests arriving in the state, what are they?
PJ Liesch: So one of the newer ones is called the brown marmorated stinkbug. This is an insect originally from Asia and it got into the country back in the 90s in Pennsylvania and it showed up in the state a few years ago. Luckily for us we only find a few each year, a handful or so each year. Although in 2015 I’ve already had six specimens come into the lab, mostly from southern Wisconsin, Milwaukee County, and Janesville area. Out east this insect is causing major problems for agricultural producers, but it also has the habit of sneaking into peoples homes in the fall just like the box elder bug and so if you see a large stinkbug like creature wandering around the house it would be a good idea to contact either myself or your local extension office and get the insect identified.
Sevie Kenyon: PJ what are the other invasive species that have come along?
PJ Liesch: So I had two new species show up in the state last year, one is called the lily leaf beetle, which is a bright red beetle about quarter inch long that lives on true lily plants, it’d feed on a few other things but it really seems to like lilies best. The interesting pattern with that is that we’ve only seen it so far in the central portion of the state in the greater Wausau area and Marathon County and we do have another report in the Marshfield area, so that’s the portion of the state they are easy to identify because they are bright red, they kind of stick out like a sore thumb, although they can cause quite a bit of damage to lily flowers in the landscape. Now related to that one is another species called viburnum leaf beetle and if you look at the history of theses two species they are almost identical. They are originally from Europe, they got into Canada back in the 40s and into New England in the 90s and then they both happen to pop up in Wisconsin last year. Viburnum leaf beetle feeds on viburnum plants, so aria wood, and cranberry bush viburnum and things like that, and it causes damage similar to Japanese beetles in that it chews holes in the leaves and kind of nibbles around the veins so we call that type of damage skeletonization. Now this one has us scratching our heads. It showed up last year, north side of Milwaukee County, on a large mature viburnum bush that had been in the ground for quite a few years so at this point we don’t know the source of that one. So if you’re in south eastern Wisconsin and you have some viburnum bushes in your yard you’re going to want to keep an eye out for some little yellowish green beetles about a quarter inch long feeding on the leaves.
Sevie Kenyon: And PJ what should be people do if they need more information or they have a question?
PJ Liesch: One of the simplest things is contact your local extension office and each office has a county agent that will be able to answer your questions. Another option to get your insect questions answered would be to do a Google or Internet search for Wisconsin Insect Diagnostic Lab and that will get you pointed to my lab website and my contact information.
Sevie Kenyon: We’ve been visiting with PJ Liesch, Insect Diagnostic Lab University of Wisconsin-Madison in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, and I’m Sevie Kenyon.