Feeding Preference, Fecundity, and Egg Hatch of Rice Stink Bug, Oebalus pugnax (F.) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) on Artificial Diet, Rice, and Alternate Host Grasses

Feeding preference, mating frequency, fecundity, and egg hatch of rice stink bug, Oebalus pugnax (F.), were examined in the laboratory. Adult rice stink bugs were allowed to feed on one of four different food sources including barnyardgrass, dallisgrass, ryegrass, and a new artificial rice flour diet. Initially, a higher percentage of females fed on all food sources than did males. Ryegrass and dallisgrass were fed on less than the rice flour diet or barnyardgrass. The insects mated twice as much and laid more eggs on rice panicles than on the rice flour diet. However, the rice flour diet was comparable to ryegrass and dallisgrass both in mating frequency and number of eggs laid per female. Egg hatch was higher in females reared on natural hosts than on the rice flour diet. However, percent egg hatch was similar in females fed with the rice flour diet or ryegrass. The rice flour diet may be an acceptable alternate food source for rice stink bug adults in the laboratory but needs to be slightly improved to make it as acceptable as barnyardgrass or rice.