Euschistus heros (Fabricius, 1798)

Smaniotto, Lisonéia F. & Panizzi, Antônio R., 2015, Interactions of selected species of stink bugs (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) from leguminous crops with plants in the Neotropics, Florida Entomologist 98 (1), pp. 7-17 : 10

EUSCHISTUS HEROS (F.)

The Neotropical brown stink bug E. heros was considered uncommon in the neotropics until the 1970’s ( Williams et al. 1973; Panizzi et al. 1977). Today it is the most abundant stink bug pest of major commodities in Brazil, feeding on Fabaceae , Solanaceae , Brassicaceae and Compositae (references in Panizzi et al. 2000a). More recently, it has been recorded feeding on Malvaceae (cotton), and is becoming wide spread on this plant in central-west Brazil ( Soria et al. 2010).

Despite its polyphagy, the number of recorded host plants is small- er than recorded for the former two species ( Table 3). This might be explained because of the habit of E. heros to overwinter under dead leaves ( Panizzi & Niva 1994). It may stay on the ground for up to six months during the fall-winter and the beginning of spring in partial dormancy without feeding ( Panizzi & Vivan 1997).

E. heros historically completed four generations per year in northern Paraná State, Brazil (Panizzi 1997). However, two main factors fa-

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Terms of Use: https://bioone.org/terms-of-use vored its biology, adding additional generations and increasing its numbers: the widespread adoption of the no-tillage cultivation systems, and the introduction of multiple cropping. These allowed the species to expand in the Brazilian territory and into Argentina ( Saluso et al. 2011).

In the southern-most state of Rio Grande do Sul (RS) in Brazil E. heros is now the most abundant species of pentatomid on soybean, reaching over 80% of the total number of stink bugs collected in Passo Fundo, RS, latitude S 28° 15’ 46” (A. R. Panizzi, unpublished). A survey in the state indicated its presence on Amaranthus retroflexus L. ( Amaranthaceae ), Solanum megalochiton Mart. , S. mauritianum Scop. , and Vassobia breviflora (Sendtn.) Hunz. ( Solanaceae ) ( Medeiros & Megier 2009). Elsewhere, it has begun feeding on seedlings of soybean ( Corrêa-Ferreira et al. 2010b) and corn ( Rosa-Gomes 2010).

The list of plants on where E. heros has been recorded in the neotropics includes 21 plant species belonging to 11 families, from which 6 species were considered to be reproductive hosts ( Table 3).