Samurai Wasps Say 'Smell Ya Later, Stink Bugs' | Deep Look

Support Deep Look on Patreon! / deeplook
Yep, brown marmorated stink bugs are stinky, but that’s not the worst thing about them. They're imported agricultural pests eating their way across North America. But a native enemy from Asia - the tiny samurai wasp - has a particularly nasty method of stopping stink bugs in their tracks.
SUBSCRIBE to Deep Look! goo.gl/8NwXqt
DEEP LOOK is an ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small.
---
It looks rather harmless at first glance. With a speckled exterior and a shield-like shape, the brown marmorated stink bug doesn’t appear to be any different from any other six-legged insect that might pop up in your garden. But this particular bug, which arrived in the U.S. from Asia in the mid-1990s and smells like old socks when it is squashed, is a real nuisance. Not only can it invade homes by the thousands in the wintertime, it’s one formidable agricultural pest, eating millions of dollars of peaches, apples and other crops since 2010.
Scientists are now investigating a new tactic in the war on the stink bugs: the possibility of relying on one of the bug’s natural enemies, the samurai wasp.
Also native to Asia, this parasitic wasp keeps the stink bug population in check there. How?
---+ Read the entire article on KQED Science:
www.kqed.org/s...
---+ For more information:
Brown Marmorated Stink Bug Research at Oregon State University
bit.ly/2GB8RFs
---+ More Great Deep Look episodes:
These Hairworms Eat a Cricket Alive and Control Its Mind
• These Hairworms Eat a ...
Jerusalem Crickets Only Date Drummers
• Jerusalem Crickets Onl...
Turret Spiders Launch Sneak Attacks From Tiny Towers
• Turret Spiders Launch ...
---+ Shoutout!
🏆Congratulations 🏆to bujur10514, Ace _YT13, Iridescent Moonbeam, Salina Tran, and Noke Noke over at the Deep Look Community Tab, for correctly identifying the term 'Thigmotaxis:'
/ @kqeddeeplook
---+ Thank you to our Top Patreon Supporters ($10+ per month)!
Bill Cass, Justin Bull, Daniel Weinstein, David Deshpande, Daisuke Goto, Karen Reynolds, Yidan Sun, Elizabeth Ann Ditz, KW, Shirley Washburn, Tanya Finch, johanna reis, Shelley Pearson Cranshaw, Johnnyonnyful, Levi Cai, Jeanine Womble, Michael Mieczkowski, SueEllen McCann, TierZoo, James Tarraga, Willy Nursalim, Aurora Mitchell, Marjorie D Miller, Joao Ascensao, PM Daeley, Two Box Fish, Tatianna Bartlett, Monica Albe, Jason Buberel
---+ Follow KQED Science and Deep Look:
Instagram: / kqedscience
Twitter: / kqedscience
KQED Science on kqed.org: www.kqed.org/sc...
Facebook Watch: / deeplookpbs
Patreon: / deeplook
---+ About KQED
KQED, an NPR and PBS affiliate in San Francisco, CA, serves Northern California and beyond with a public-supported alternative to commercial TV, Radio and web media.
Funding for Deep Look is provided in part by PBS Digital Studios. Deep Look is a project of KQED Science, which is also supported by the National Science Foundation, the Templeton Religion Trust, the Templeton World Charity Foundation, the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, the Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation, the Vadasz Family Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Fuhs Family Foundation and the members of KQED. #deeplook #stinkbugs #wildlife