LAUSR

The kudzu bug, Megacopta cribraria (F.) (Hemiptera: Plataspidae), is native to several areas in the Eastern Hemisphere. It was first reported in North America and the New World in 2009 aggregating on homes in northeastern Georgia. It was initially thought to be a nuisance pest and a potential pest of legumes (Eger et al. 2010, Insecta Mundi 0121: 1–11; Suiter et al. 2010, J. Integ. Pest Mgt. 1(1): F1– F4[4]). Since this initial discovery, the insect has been reported throughout the southeastern United States as far west as Louisiana and as far north as Delaware (Gardner et al. 2013, J. Entomol. Sci. 48: 118–127; www.kudzubug.org). Adults and immatures feed upon a variety of host plants, but the reproductive hosts in its expanded North American range are kudzu, Pueraria montana var. lobata (Willdenow) Maesen and Almeida, and soybean, Glycine max (L.) Merrill (Zhang et al. 2012, Environ. Entomol. 41: 40–50). Yield losses in soybeans are reported when populations are left unchecked (Seiter et al. 2013a, J. Econ. Entomol. 106: 1676–1683). In an initial assessment of natural enemy impact on this invasive pest, Ruberson et al. (2012, Appl. Entomol. Zool. 48: 3–13) found only sporadic predation of adults, only one adult parasitized by the tachinid Phasia robertsonii (Townsend), and one adult infected with the fungus Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo) Vuillemin. Since that report, the egg parasitoid Paratelenomus saccharalis (Dodd) has been documented parasitizing M. cribraria eggs in soybean and kudzu in many areas of its expanded range (Gardner et al. 2013, J. Entomol. Sci. 48: 355–359; Medal et al. 2015, Florida