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Finding A Pest To Kill A Pest

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ARS researchers are looking at ways to control the crop-feasting bagrada bug

Bagrada hilaris, commonly known as the bagrada bug or the painted bug, is an invasive species known for its distinctive orange and white markings and also for its ferocious appetite. These creatures feast on vegetable crops in the cabbage family (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, etc.), weedy mustards, and other plants and are a serious threat to our farming industry, especially in central and southern California and western Arizona.  The more they eat, the fewer vegetables that make it to our markets, resulting in potentially higher prices and less variety.

What is ARS doing to control this hungry bug? Find out below:

A mating pair of black and orange bagrada bugs surrounded by orange and black nymphs.

Meet the bagrada bug (the one with the darker orange back is younger), which is native to India, Pakistan, and parts of Southeast Asia, and is also present in Africa. They have spread to Italy (Pantelleria, an island near Sicily), Mexico, Chile, and the United States and are causing millions in crop damage. (Evelyne Hougardy, D4807-1)
Bagrada bugs on a broccoli head.

These little buggers feast on different crops, including broccoli heads. ARS scientists and their collaborators around the world are researching biological control methods – instead of pesticides – to manage this pest. (Evelyne Hougardy, D4900-1)
A sentinel card in the field, inside a cardstock triangle.

In Albany, CA, ARS Researchers at the Invasive Species and Pollinator Health Research Unit are conducting field experiments using sentinel cards to sample possible natural enemies that could attack and kill bagrada bug eggs. (Brian Hogg, D4896-2)

A female Gryon aetherium wasp inserts her ovipositor into a bagrada bug egg.

One potential candidate is the parasitic wasp Gryon aetherium. Shown here, the female wasp is depositing her own egg inside a bagrada bug egg; in essence, killing the bagrada egg. These wasps have been found throughout northcentral California. (Evelyne Hougardy, D4898-1)
A scientist collects bagrada bugs in the field.

In Italy, Entomologist René Sforza and other scientists from ARS’s European Biological Control Laboratory are collecting bagrada bugs here and all over the world for conducting experiments on life history traits or for pinpointing the origin of its populations in the U.S. and beyond. (Stephen Novak, Boise State University, D4893-1)

Workers hand-picking bagrada bugs in a broccoli and cabbage farm.

In Kenya, workers hand-pick bagrada bugs off their broccoli and cabbage plants, a labor-intensive task. ARS scientists plan to expose bagrada eggs in the fields here to lure possible enemies that may be useful for controlling bagrada bug in the United States. (René Sforza, D4894-1)

By Peggy Greb and Jessica Ryan, ARS Office of Communications.