Prediction of outbreak of fruit tree stink bugs in Kagoshima prefecture [Japan] from light trap data

Prediction of an outbreak was tenatively made for fruit tree stink bugs based on light trap data obtained from 1970 to 1996 in Kagoshima, southern Japan, where two species, Plautia stail and Glaucias subpunctatus were dominant. The numbers of bugs were likely to increase as the years proceeded, while the numbers fluctuated. Although outbreaks of species were observed in spring and autumn, the outbreak of P. stali appeared about one month earlier than that of G. subpunctatus. Correlation analyses revealed that the number of adults of the former species collected in autumn can be used to predict the outbreak in spring of the following year. Such a correlation was not detected in the latter species.