Five years of brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys, in interior British Columbia, Canada

The brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys Stål (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), was first detected in Penticton in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, Canada in 2016. Surveys were conducted from 2017 – 2021, for H. halys detection, delimitation of regional distribution, abundance, and to survey for natural enemies. More than 130 pheromone-baited traps were set up each year for monitoring in residential, regional parks and a few orchards and vineyards. Sentinel H. halys egg masses were deployed for the collection and rearing of parasitoids and predators in 2018 and 2019, and H. halys egg masses were collected from host plants for rearing out parasitoids in 2021. Our surveys indicate that H. halys is present in most regions of the Okanagan valley of British Columbia, with established and abundant populations in the Kelowna area. Other areas in the valley have no or very low numbers of H. halys. Halyomorpha halys attacks more than twenty ornamental host plants in Interior British Columbia. To date, there have been no reports of H. halys damage to commercial fruit in Interior British Columbia. The samurai wasp, Trissolcus japonicus, the most closely associated parasitoid of H. halys worldwide, was detected for the first time in Interior British Columbia in Kelowna in June 2021.