In bed, on this forum and an insect that I mistook for a helicopter flew behind me and landed on my headboard. I turned around, picked it up and put it in a bottle to throw away but found this weird secretion on my fingers. My girlfriend always makes fun of me as I smell everything but I'm glad I smelt this...exactly like peppermint...exactly. I've tried Googleing it but don't know what to type other than "insect that smells like peppermint." What is this thing? I've seen them all of my life but never picked one up.
Took it out of the bottle, and let it crawl on my hand while squeezing it a bit so it would secrete again so I could ask my dad, he said it was a stink bug..I looked it up and sure enough...there it is.
yep, stinkbug. we were infested with them here in PA. the last few years, but they slacked off this year. I saw a cabin that had millions of them in, guy was on his 5th full size shop vac load and hadn't even made a dent.
I recognize the shape as stink bug but I've never seen that dark coloration. Ours are either leaf green or slate grey.
Wow, I assumed everyone knew what stink bugs were but maybe they are just bad around here. Virginia became infested with them and they are constantly getting in different vents, curtains, under siding, in cars, lol you name it and they are there. My dog always chases them down and eats them which then leaves the whole room stinking.
Well maybe that one subspecies is peppermint flavored...like a breath mint with legs...try it try it try it.
Yeah they obliterated the lady bugs around here but which would you rather have...honestly? Not stink bugs that's for sure
I can't tell for sure but it's got rounded shoulders and not pointed correct? If pointed, it is a spined soldier bug. Stink bugs come in many different colorations. Nymphs are pretty BA looking. They can do quite the damage in field crops if there is high enough threshold.
I think you have that backwards... Stink bugs are invasive and no one knows how they got here from Asia. Lady Bugs were introduced sporadically by Ag folks to attempt to control Aphid populations around fruit and nut tree plantations. Looks like a stink bug to me, but never smelled one that smelled like peppermint. Were you chewing gum before you saw the bug? lol.
Oh don't worry. I have a class on insects and we were recently talking about a wasp they're trying to introduce to be predatory to stink bugs but since it's invasive for America it doesn't really have any predators here
