Invasive brown marmorated stink bug Halyomorpha halys (Stål) (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) in Russia, Abkhazia, and Serbia: history of invasion, range expansion, early stages of establishment, and first records of damage to local crops

Abstract

© 2017, Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature. Halyomorpha halys is native to Asia, but was recently accidentally introduced to North America and Europe. This species was recorded for the first time in Russia in 2013 (2014) and in both Serbia and Abkhazia in 2015. In 2015–2017, we conducted surveys in Russia, Serbia, and Abkhazia and found that H. halys had not only successfully survived its first winters in new regions, but also started to establish locally, spread, increase populations, and damage local crops. In Sochi (Russia) and Abkhazia, H. halys was recorded to feed on 32 species and cultivars from 16 plants families. In Serbia, it has so far been observed on only four species from four plant families. H. halys is already widely spread in Abkhazia and causes serious damage to many crops: in 2016, the yield of peach, mandarin orange, persimmon and other crops fell down by 13.2–87.4% if compared to the long-term means of yield. The losses are likely to be mostly caused by feeding of H. halys. We conclude that H. halys was accidentally introduced to Russia in 2012–2013 most likely with woody plants imported to Sochi from Italy or Greece for urban landscaping before the 2014 Winter Olympics. The species established in Sochi and quickly moved to Krasnodar (Russia), Abkhazia, and beyond—to Georgia. Populations in Serbia most likely arrived in 2015 traveling on railway cars or in commodities on the Bucharest–Belgrade railway line. We discuss phenology and prospects of further expansion of H. halys in Europe.