
Tracy C LeskeyUnited States Department of Agriculture | USDA · Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
Tracy C Leskey
Doctor of Philosophy
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293
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August 2000 - March 2020
Publications
Publications (293)
Halyomorpha halys (Stål), the brown marmorated stink bug, is an invasive, polyphagous insect that causes serious economic injury in particular to specialty crops in the United States. Growers have been forced to respond by increasing the frequency of broad-spectrum insecticide (e.g., neonicotinoid, pyrethroid, and carbamate) applications. One strat...
Since the initial detection of the invasive Halyomorpha halys (Stål) in the United States in the late 1990s, this insect has emerged as a severe agricultural and nuisance pest. Nuisance problems are due to adult dispersal to overwintering sites in the fall at which time they alight onto and eventually settle within human-made structures in addition...
Halyomorpha halys (Stål) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) has been managed primarily with broad-spectrum insecticides in orchard systems. Recently, IPM techniques have been developed specifically for managing H. halys in apple orchards to reduce insecticide inputs and take advantage of its perimeter-driven behavior. In 2015 and 2016, we compared these IPM...
Halyomorpha halys (Stål), the brown marmorated stink bug, is a globally invasive stink bug species. Its first major outbreak was in the United States, where it has caused millions of dollars in damage, threatened livelihoods of specialty crop growers and impacted row crop growers, and become an extreme nuisance pest in and around dwellings. The BMS...
The brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys (Stål) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), is a polyphagous invasive insect and currently one of the most threatening agricultural pests in the USA and globally. Nymphs are highly mobile, moving among host plants, and causing significant damage. Thus, understanding dispersal biology for all life stages is cr...
The invasion of brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) in the USA dramatically changed integrated pest management programs, particularly in the mid-Atlantic states. Abiotic factors including photoperiod influence the abundance and pest status of BMSB which is bivoltine in most regions of the USA. Orchard crops have been hardest hit and legacy issues per...
Previously developed behavioral approaches for controlling the apple maggot fly, Rhagoletis pomonella (Walsh) (Diptera: Tephritidae), include attract-and-kill (AK) systems such as perimeter trapping using either, odor-baited red sticky spheres or odor-baited, sticky-free attracticidal spheres with contoured tops that ensure the sustained release of...
Halyomorpha halys (Stål) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) is an invasive pest which feeds on numerous economically significant crops. Many integrated pest management strategies for this species rely on effective season-long monitoring for H. halys populations, including attract-and-kill and threshold-based insecticide sprays. Previous studies have shown t...
Historically, anecdotal observations support the likelihood of human-assisted invasive insect dispersal to new environments. No previous studies have investigated the ability of insects to remain attached to moving vehicles; however, such information is critical for prioritizing research, mitigation activities and understanding anthropogenic effect...
Lycorma delicatula White (Hemiptera: Fulgoridae), spotted lanternfly, is a univoltine, phloem-feeding, polyphagous and invasive insect in the United States. Although a primary host for this species is Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle, tree of heaven, L. delicatula also feeds on many other plant species, including cultivated grapevines. As this s...
Native apple maggot fly, Rhagoletis pomonella, and invasive spotted-wing drosophila, Drosophila suzukii, are key pests of apple and small fruit, respectively, in the United States. Both species are typically managed with standard insecticide applications. However, interest in alternative strategies that result in insecticide reductions has led to e...
In commercial apple orchards, the odor-baited trap tree approach involving the synergistic lure composed of benzaldehyde (BEN) and the PC aggregation pheromone grandisoic acid (GA) serves as an effective monitoring tool as well as an attract-and-kill strategy for plum curculio (PC), Conotrachelus nenuphar Herbst. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), manage...
Measurements of insect external morphology are important to understanding species ecology, biology, and systematics. Precise measurement of width and length can be laborious and time-consuming. Here, we explored an automated approach to insect measurement using an image-based method with adult Halyomorpha halys (Stl) (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) as...
Tree fruit orchards in some Mid-Atlantic states are within the geographic range of 17-year periodical cicada Brood X, Magicicada septendecim (L.) and M. cassini (Fisher) (Hemiptera: Cicadidae), and can be badly affected by injury from its oviposition in branches. Several applications of broad-spectrum insecticides, such as pyrethroids, are needed t...
Lycorma delicatula, White (Hemiptera: Fulgoridae), spotted lanternfly, is a univoltine, phloem-feeding, polyphagous and invasive insect in the USA. Although a primary host for this species is Ailanthus altissima, tree of heaven, L. delicatula also feeds on a wide range of hosts important to the USA including cultivated grapevines. Due to the need f...
BACKGROUND
Invasive species threaten the productivity and stability of natural and managed ecosystems. Predicting the spread of invaders, which can aid in early mitigation efforts, is a major challenge, especially in the face of climate change. While ecological niche models are effective tools to assess habitat suitability for invaders, such models...
In Asia, Trissolcus japonicus (Ashmead) (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) is the predominant egg parasitoid of the brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys (Stål) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae). Detections of adventive T. japonicus populations in North America since 2014, where invasive H. halys populations have impacted various specialty crops, spurred s...
Trissolcus japonicus (Ashmead) (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) is an egg parasitoid of the invasive Asian pest, brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys (Stål) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae). Also native to Asia, adventive T. japonicus populations have been detected in North America since 2014, and are currently reported from 15 U.S. states, the Distric...
Auchenorrhyncha (Hemiptera) includes several families of sap-feeding insects that tend to feed on a wide-range of host plants. Some species within Auchenorrhyncha are major agricultural pests that transmit plant pathogens or cause direct feeding damage. Nearly all pest Auchenorrhyncha are highly polyphagous, have mobile nymphs, and colonize crops f...
Spotted-wing drosophila, Drosophila suzukii Matsumura, is an invasive pest in the United States, Europe and South America. Females are able to oviposit in intact soft-skinned fruit, resulting in significant economic losses due to larval feeding. Attracticidal spheres, originally developed for the apple maggot, Rhagoletis pomonella Walsh, have been...
The invasive spotted lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula, (White Hemiptera: Fulgoridae) continues to spread throughout the Eastern United States. This species exhibits a broad host range, with tree of heaven, Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle, commonly referred to as the preferred host. Here, we evaluated 2-wk survivorship of early nymphal instars, la...
The brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys Stål (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), is an invasive pest in America, Europe and Asia and causes serious economic loss to crops, and nuisance problems during overwintering. Uninvaded southern hemisphere countries, such as New Zealand and Australia, see an increase in H. halys border interceptions during t...
The invasive brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys (Stål), is a pest of numerous economically important crops in the USA. In the Mid-Atlantic region, it is a significant, direct pest in tree fruit orchards, many of which are bordered by woodlots containing a variety of its deciduous tree and shrub hosts. During the growing season, H. halys...
Protein immunomarking can be used to track the dispersal of insects in the field or identify plant–insect interactions. By marking insects with known proteins and recapturing them, their movement or host use can be quantified with Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). Before using this technique, retention and behavioral effects of these marke...
The spotted lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula (White), is an invasive planthopper that was first discovered in North America in Berks County, Pennsylvania in 2014. Currently, L. delicatula has spread to eight additional states and threatens agricultural, ornamental, and timber commodities throughout the United States. The timing of insect life events...
Greenhouse whitefly, Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Westwood) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), is a serious pest of numerous crops grown in greenhouses and field-grown strawberry in yr-round production areas in California, USA. Problems with insecticide resistance have prompted the search for more sustainable methods for their management. Here, we applied UV-...
Invasive species surveillance programs can utilize environmental DNA sampling and analysis to provide information on the presence of invasive species. Wider utilization of eDNA techniques for invasive species surveillance may be warranted. This paper covers topics directed towards invasive species managers and eDNA practitioners working at the inte...
Brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys, is native to Asia and has invaded North America and Europe inflicting serious agricultural damage to specialty and row crops. Tools to monitor the spread of H. halys include traps baited with the two-component aggregation pheromone (PHER), (3S,6S,7R,10S)-10,11-epoxy-1-bisabolen-3-ol and (3R,6S,7R,10S)-...
The invasive Halyomorpha halys invades crop fields from various bordering habitats, and its feeding on crops has caused significant economic losses. Thus, H. halys is considered a perimeter-driven threat, and research on alternative management tactics against it has focused on intervention at crop edges. Woodlands adjacent to crop fields contain ma...
Drosophila suzukii, more commonly known as the spotted-wing drosophila (SWD), is an invasive pest of soft, thin-skinned fruit responsible for significant economic losses for growers worldwide. To detect and monitor this pest, several host attractants have been developed for use in trapping SWD; however, they lack selectivity. Therefore, there is a...
Halyomorpha halys (Stål) is an invasive pest in the United States and other countries. In its native range, H. halys eggs are parasitized by a co-evolved parasitoid, Trissolcus japonicus (Ashmead). In the United States, T. japonicus, a classical biological control candidate, is being redistributed in many states where adventive populations exist. T...
Trissolcus japonicus, an important egg parasitoid of Halyomorpha halys in Asia, was first detected in the USA in 2014. To evaluate the effect of habitat and the seasonality of T. japonicus detections in the USA, yellow sticky traps were placed in the canopy of Ailanthus altissima growing at the edge of isolated patches of trees, windbreaks, and woo...
Invasive species surveillance programs can utilize environmental DNA sampling and analysis to provide information on the presence of invasive species. Wider utilization of eDNA techniques for invasive species surveillance may be warranted. This paper covers topics directed towards invasive species managers and eDNA practitioners working at the inte...
The invasive spotted lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula White (Hemiptera: Fulgoridae), is a destructive phloem feeder with a broad host range that appears to narrow as they reach the adult stage. Little is known about how this invasive insect disperses among host plants or how far they may move to reach them. Here, we measured vertical climbing and hor...
Halyomorpha halys (Stål, 1855) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) is an invasive species in the United States, where it has caused significant damage to specialty crops, including apples. While integrated pest management techniques have been developed for H. halys in apple, including spray application techniques, it is unknown how these techniques affect fo...
The brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae), is regarded as one of the world's most pernicious invasive pest species, as it feeds on a wide range of economically important crops. During the autumn dispersal period, H. halys ultimately moves to potential overwintering sites, such as human-made structures or trees wh...
The plum curculio, Conotrachelus nenuphar Herbst (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), is an insect native to the Americas that is a serious pest of stone and pome fruits in the United States and Canada. Failure to effectively manage this insect may result in up to 85% damaged fruit at harvest, as well as early season fruit abortion. Conotrachelus nenuphar...
The objectives of this study were to quantify the virulence of four entomopathogenic fungal species to pupae of Rhagoletis pomonella (Walsh) (Diptera: Tephritidae) and to determine the potential to combine entomopathogenic fungi (EPFs) and entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) for biological control of this pest. The four species of EPFs included Beauv...
Halyomorpha halys (Stål), the brown marmorated stink bug, is an invasive and highly polyphagous insect that has caused serious economic injury to specialty and row crops in the United States and Europe. Here, we evaluated the effects of marking adult and nymphal H. halys with four different colors of fluorescent powder (Blaze Orange, Corona Pink, H...
The spotted lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula White, is an invasive planthopper (Hemiptera: Fulgoridae) that was first detected in the United States in Berks County, PA, in 2014, and has since spread in the mid-Atlantic region. This phloem-feeding pest has a broad host range, including economically important crops such as grape where their feeding cau...
The apple maggot, Rhagoletis pomonella (Walsh) (Diptera: Tephritidae), is considered a key pest of apples and is native to the eastern United States. The virulence of seven different species of entomopathogenic nematodes (EPN) was assessed against pupae of R. pomonella under laboratory conditions. Nematode species and strains included Steinernema c...
Efforts to reduce insecticide inputs against plum curculio, Conotrachelus nenuphar, a key pest of apples in eastern North America, include perimeter-row insecticide sprays applied after the whole-orchard petal fall spray to manage dispersing adults and, more recently, insecticide sprays confined to odor-baited trap trees. Entomopathogenic nematodes...
Efforts to reduce insecticide inputs against plum curculio, Conotrachelus nenuphar, a key pest of apples in eastern North America, include perimeter-row insecticide sprays applied after the whole-orchard petal fall spray to manage dispersing adults and, more recently, insecticide sprays confined to odor-baited trap trees. Entomopathogenic nematodes...
Efforts to reduce insecticide inputs against plum curculio, Conotrachelus nenuphar, a key pest of apples in eastern North America, include perimeter-row insecticide sprays applied after the whole-orchard petal fall spray to manage dispersing adults and, more recently, insecticide sprays confined to odor-baited trap trees. Entomopathogenic nematodes...
We have demonstrated how management of key orchard pests including the insect invasive species Halyomorpha halys (Stål) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) can be accomplished using a systems-level approach termed IPM-CPR (Integrated Pest Management-Crop Perimeter Restructuring) in apple. We conducted on-farm comparisons of IPM-CPR to standard management pro...
The brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys Stål (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), is an invasive pest that attacks specialty and row crops in North America and Europe. There has been a concerted effort to reduce frequent broad‐spectrum insecticide applications made on vulnerable crops. One tool that has emerged recently is the use of long‐lasting i...
Sustainable management of invasive arthropod pests requires insecticide-alternative, integrated strategies, such as protected culture. During 2016–2017, we studied the efficacy of exclusion netting at reducing infestation damage in fall-bearing raspberries caused by an invasive vinegar fly, Drosophila suzukii Matsumura. In an effort to manage outbr...
Brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys) (Stål) is a household nuisance pest that seeks shelter in buildings during the winter months. It has been found in a variety of cavities and spaces between building elements, as well as in the objects stored within buildings. This experiment examined the cavity tightness preferences for these insects a...
Managing greenhouse whitefly with ultraviolet-C light
The brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys (Stål) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) is attracted to its male-produced aggregation pheromone, a ~3.5:1 mixture of (3S,6S,7R,10S)-and (3R,6S,7R,10S)-10,11-epoxy-1-bisabolen-3-ol (SSRS and RSRS respectively), and also to the pheromone of its Asian sympatric species Plautia stali Scott (Hemiptera: Pentatom...
Reliable monitoring of the invasive Halyomorpha halys abundance, phenology and geographic distribution is critical for its management. Halyomorpha halys adult and nymphal captures on clear sticky traps and in black pyramid traps were compared in 18 states across the Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Pacific Northwest and Western regions of the...
Halyomorpha halys (Stål) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), the brown marmorated stink bug, is an invasive polyphagous insect that can cause serious economic injury to specialty and row crops in the United States and globally. To date, H. halys has been managed with repeated insecticide applications. While progress has been made toward development of trap-...
The effect of exposing apples to brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys, for discrete intervals before harvest and of post-harvest cold storage on feeding injury expression was evaluated in 2011 and 2012. Individual apples from four cultivars in experimental orchards in Virginia and West Virginia, USA were caged soon after fruit set to prote...
The brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), is an invasive species in North America and Europe that damages many different host plants. Substantial work has been conducted on the genetic diversity and invasion pathways of H. halys in some of the countries where it has been found, based on mitochondrial sequences. Th...
Lycorma delicatula (White) (Hemiptera: Fulgoridae) is an invasive species inflicting damage to agricultural and forest systems. This species is native to China, Taiwan, and Vietnam. Lycorma delicatula was accidentally introduced into South Korea and Japan, with outbreaks reported since mid-2000s. More recently, this pest was found in Pennsylvania,...
Halyomorpha halys (Stål) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) is an invasive pest that has established in much of the United States. Adventive populations of an effective Asian egg parasitoid of H. halys, Trissolcus japonicus (Ashmead) (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae), have been detected in several states, including Virginia, and its geographic range is expanding....
Insecticides are the primary tool raspberry growers use to control Japanese beetles ( Popillia japonica ), but reliance on pesticides is costly and there are risks to nontarget species. Based on observations that Japanese beetles were less abundant on raspberries in high tunnels than in fields, we investigated the effects of plastic films that tran...
A key aspect to controlling and reducing the effects invasive insect
species have on agriculture is to obtain knowledge about the migration
patterns of these species. Current state-of-the-art methods of studying
these migration patterns involve a mark-release-recapture technique,
in which insects are released after being marked and researchers atte...
This 2-year study (2013–2014) assessed the efficacy of an odor-baited “trap bush” approach to aggregate plum curculio, Conotrachelus nenuphar, adult injury, i.e., number of oviposition-scared fruit, in four commercial highbush blueberry farms in New Jersey (USA). In each farm, we compared fruit injury in bushes baited with grandisoic acid and benza...
A key aspect to controlling and reducing the effects invasive insect species have on agriculture is to obtain knowledge about the migration patterns of these species. Current state-of-the-art methods of studying these migration patterns involve a mark-release-recapture technique, in which insects are released after being marked and researchers atte...
The brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys, is an agricultural and urban pest that has become widely established as an invasive species of major concern in the USA and throughout Europe. The insect forms large aggregations before entering diapause, and it is often these aggregations that are found by biosecurity officials conducting inspecti...
Overwintering brown marmorated stink bugs (Halyomorpha halys) (Stål) are a notable domestic nuisance. In addition to disruptive activity, dead individuals remain in homes, sometimes in large numbers. To better understand the effects of these remains on overwintering behavior, adult H. halys were subjected to several experiments to test their respon...
Intentional and unintentional openings in a building’s envelope provide opportunities for unwanted pests to enter buildings. The brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys (Stål), is one such pest, causing a significant domestic winter nuisance in many locations. One important means of pest control is exclusion, or blocking openings through whic...
The brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys (Stål) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), is an invasive agricultural and nuisance pest that has established across much of the United States and caused significant crop losses in the Mid-Atlantic region. While it has been monitored extensively using ground-deployed pheromone traps, the vertical distributio...
The back‐cover image is based on the Research Article Successful management of Halyomorpha halys (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) in commercial apple orchards with an attract‐and‐kill strategy by William R Morrison et al., DOI: 10.1002/ps.5156. Photo Credit: Rob Morrison, Ph.D. The back‐cover image is based on the Research Article Successful management of...
• The invasive brown marmorated stink bug Halyomorpha halys (Stål) is a serious nuisance pest in buildings.
• To address how H. halys select potential overwintering sites and to predict the risk of home invasion, citizen scientists, primarily from the Mid‐Atlantic region of the U.S.A., were recruited to count the number of H. halys present on the e...
BACKGROUND
Introduction of Halyomorpha halys (Stål) in the USA has disrupted many established integrated pest management programs for specialty crops, especially apple. While current management heavily relies on insecticides, one potential alternative tactic is attract‐and‐kill (AK), whereby large numbers of H. halys are attracted to and retained i...