Cold Tolerance and Supercooling Capacity of the Redbanded Stink Bug (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae)

The redbanded stink bug Piezodorus guildinii (Westwood) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) is an invasive stink bug species in the United States. First documented as a soybean pest in Louisiana in the year 2000, this species continues to spread in the Mid-South region of the United States. We designed laboratory and field studies to investigate supercooling points, lethal exposure time (LT), critical thermal minimum (CTmin), and winter mortality of this species. The mean supercooling points (SCP) ± SE of adult field collected P. guildinii ranged from -8.3 ± 0.2°C (highest) in March to -11.0 ± 0.2°C (lowest) in January. Significant differences in SCP occurred over the months and between sexes with significant interactions between month and sex. The CTmin was significantly different between adults and nymphs (third, fourth, and fifth instars combined). LT50 and LT90 were evaluated at subzero temperatures of 0°C, -2°C, and -5°C. There were significant differences in LT50 and LT90 among the temperature treatments. Winter survival significantly differed between the two study years and decreased with progression of winter months.