Not the cave crickets from my previous post. This time it's Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs, which recently invaded our soon-to-be-former apartment. We regularly have 1 or 2 of these showing up (crawling in through a window screen that's not properly sealed), but they seem to arrive in droves around this time each year, just as the weather is beginning to get cooler. Apparently they seek out a warm place to hide out for the winter, and they give a scent signal that others follow to come to the same place. So when you have one, you'll often have many more a short time later.
Anyway, yesterday we had a full-on invasion. Kathy was working from home, and she managed to catch about 25-30 of them by the time I got home, and then I caught another 10 or so. As with the cave-cricket thing, we have a whole technique for this (originally developed for a wasp in the house, so we wouldn't have to smash it or set it loose):
1. Trap the bug in a small glass.
2. Where one would normally slide a card under the glass, we use a CD in a paper sleeve - it keeps a rigid flat shape better than cardboard.
3. Put the glass & CD in the freezer.
4. When the bug is frozen dead, dump it into a holding tank with previous catches (another glass or a tupperware container).
Normally, step 5 is to dump them in the toilet, or outside, or something like that.
But this time, Kathy was curious just what the heck was up with these crazy bugs, because we hadn't heard of other people getting infestations like this. It turns out this is a relatively new invasive species, which came over from eastern Asia less than 10 years ago, and started spreading through eastern Pennsylvania in the past few years. Biologists at Cornell and Rutgers are studying the spread of these bugs (which are a major pest for fruit & vegetable farms), and even asking for samples.
Last night I emailed the Cornell guy, Rick Hoebeke, about our catch, including individual and group photos. He wrote back that he wants them:
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Thanks for your message regarding the sighting of the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug in your home. Can you do me a big favor? Can you send a bunch of these specimens (dead in among crumpled tissues in a crush-proof box) to me for an ongoing molecular study of this invasive stink bug? We need specimens from around the NE for extracting DNA (best when bugs have been recently killed by freezing). Please also include your full address and date of collection! They can be sent to my business address under my signature (see below). Please send by First Class or FedEx.
I thank you in advance for this courtesy.
E. R. Hoebeke
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We'll be mailing those out tomorrow. My only regret is that I have but 35-40 bugs to give for my country.
* All instances of the singular possessive adjective shall be assumed to include the plural, and vice versa.