Primi rinvenimenti in Italia della cimice esotica Halyomorpha halys, una nuova minaccia per la frutticoltura

The Brown Marmorated Stink Bug Halyomorpha halys (Heteroptera, Pentatomidae) was detected for the first time in Italy in September 2012 in the province of Modena (Northern Italy) during an insect collection for educational purposes. Native to east Asia, H. halys is listed in the EPPO Alert list given its wide host range and extremely high potential as an invasive pest of many fruit, horticultural and ornamentals crops. Besides, it is also a nuisance pest for its tendency to mass-aggregate inside houses to overwinter. To verify the real presence of this bug in Italy, a “citizen-science” type of survey has been activated since May 2013, involving University students, entomology/nature amateurs and common citizens. Besides, in the province of Modena, the field monitoring that was already active to detect the presence of other bugs (Miridae) considered agents of pear deformity, was also used. From the survey it emerged that H. halys is quite evenly distributed in the territory of Emilia Romagna and other focuses were recorded in Lombardia and Piemont regions. H halys was not detected with sweep-net monitoring in the field.