The New York Postreports that Asian stink bugs are invading the Northeast. The stink bugs don't bite or spread disease but they do spread a foul order when they are squashed.
The fingernail-sized flying beetles are native to China, Korea and Japan, but made landfall in the US in 1998 in Allentown, Pa., according to Rutgers University entomologist George Hamilton.
"They're good hitchhikers," said Hamilton of the insects, which can lay up to 30 eggs at a time. "They get into clothes and suitcases and spread."
And while they don't pose a health risk, they've been turning stomachs in Park Slope this winter. Residents there are finding that when squashed or even vacuumed, the brown, long-antennaed bugs stink to high heaven.
The NJ.com site has a longer article about how difficult it is to remove the smelly creatures. The article warns not to use bug bombs or dusts to get rid of them because the dead bugs will attract scavenger insects - like carpet beetles - that can actually cause damage.
Photo: David R. Lance, USDA APHIS PPQ, Bugwood.org
The New York Post 
