Vibrational communication of the brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys)

Communication with substrate-borne vibrational signals is common in the family Pentatomidae, although this aspect of biology of the invasive pest Halyomorpha halys Stål remains unexplored so far. In the present study, the behaviour of single animals and pairs is observed on a bean plant and a loudspeaker membrane at the same time as recording substrate vibrations with a laser vibrometer, with the aim of adding to the existing description of mating behaviour. The male H. halys emit long, narrow-band vibrational signals spontaneously to which the nearby females reply with their own vibrational signals, triggering male searching. During this phase, the insects emit two (in females) or three song types (in males) in various combinations, until they come into physical contact, after which the final male song type, characterized by tremulation, is the only kind of vibratory emission. Females never start singing spontaneously and the mating sequence does not proceed if either partner is silent. Male signals do not attract males or females and so vibrations are unlikely to play a role in maintaining the aggregations that are characteristic of this species, whereas female signals show promise for developing behavioural manipulation methods against this invasive pest.