Stink Bugs Could Be Unleashed to Battle China's Fall Armyworms

Maize plant leaves damaged by fall armyworm caterpillars in Kenya.Photographer: Riccardo Gangale/Bloomberg
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Scientists in China are seeking to deploy an army of predatory stink bugs to battle a fall armyworm incursion that threatens to devastate the country’s grain crops.

The insect, Arma chinensis, is a natural enemy of fall armyworm, according to the Institute of Plant Protection of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Researchers there believe it may be a useful biological agent to control the crop-ravaging caterpillar, which arrived in China early this year after spreading from the Americas to Africa and across parts of southern Asia.