What are the medicinal values of the lychee stink bug?

The lychee stink bug is a pest of fruit trees and has no medicinal value. It mainly damages lychee and longan, and also damages other plants in the Sapindaceae family. In China, its distribution areas include Fujian, Taiwan, China, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan and other provinces and regions, and it is also common in South Asian and Southeast Asian countries.

Introduction to the lychee stink bug:

1. Feeding damage of the lychee stink bug

Both the adults and nymphs of the lychee stink bug pierce and suck the sap of young branches, flower clusters and young fruit, causing flowers and fruit to drop. The foul liquid they secrete, when it touches flower buds, tender leaves and young fruit, can cause the contacted parts to wither and die; when outbreaks occur, they seriously affect yield, and can even result in total crop loss.

2. Life habits of the lychee stink bug

It has 1 generation per year, and overwinters as adults in dense foliage on the trees or on the underside of old leaves. The following year in March and April it resumes activity, and lays eggs on the underside of leaves. In May and June, nymphs emerge in large numbers and cause damage. The nymph passes through 5 instars over about 2 months, has a habit of playing dead, and most molt into adults during July, then enter the overwintering period after the weather turns cold. Nymphs and adults pierce and suck the sap of tender shoots, flower clusters and young fruit of lychee and longan, causing flowers and fruit to drop. If disturbed, they often spray a foul liquid in self-defense, and where it touches tender shoots or young fruit the area turns scorched brown.

3. Control methods for the lychee stink bug

(1) Agricultural control. Manual collection: during low winter temperatures (below 10°C), the lychee stink bug is affected by the cold and cannot easily take flight, so suddenly shaking the branches hard makes the overwintering adults fall to the ground, where they are gathered and burned; use Anastatus japonicus wasps to control the lychee stink bug.

(2) Chemical control. In early spring, before the overwintering adults have laid many eggs, spray trichlorfon solution (800-1000 times dilution) to kill the overwintering adults. Spray a second time during the nymph stage to kill large numbers of 3rd-instar nymphs. In areas with high pest density, spray the whole area; in areas with low pest density and few flowering fruit trees, apply the pesticide only to key spots; in large contiguous lychee-growing areas, use aircraft for control.

The lychee stink bug causes considerable harm to the growth and yield of fruit trees, so farmers should spray pesticides in advance and do a good job of prevention, and longan and lychee growers in particular should pay attention.