Tessaratoma papillosa

5 days ago

Latin Name	Observation date	Location
Tessaratoma papillosa	December 11 2024	Buket Alue Puteh, Aceh, Indonesia

Tessaratoma papillosa or also known as "stink bug" is a species of insect from the Tessaratomidae family, this insect is known because it harms the plants cultivated by farmers, this insect also has the ability to emit a pungent odor as their natural defense method, this insect easy to find in tropical and subtropical areas, a few days ago I found Tessaratoma papillosa in a weed bush, and I feel lucky to have found them and this is the first time I have found this type of insect.

This beetle has a body size of around 25 millimeters with a brownish yellow body color, I found them on the leaves of wild plants and I estimate that they have been on those leaves for a long time with some of the dirt that I found around, from several references that I have read shows that Tessaratoma papillosa lives by sucking sap from various types of plants and fruit using its needle-shaped mouth. This activity is very detrimental because every sap they suck will cause the plants to wilt and dry, while the fruit they suck will rot. in a short time, so their presence on agricultural land will be a serious problem for plant cultivators.

To control the population of this insect, farmers are strongly advised to use insecticides, although this option is not the best solution, because excessive use of chemicals will have an impact on the environment, but from the confessions of several farmers who I discussed about this insect, it told me that this insect is very detrimental and they are forced to use insecticides to control the population, actually there are other solutions that can be applied, namely alternatives that are more environmentally friendly by using natural enemies such as parasitoids that attack their eggs, but this solution is not always effective because the Tessaratoma papillosa insect often appears suddenly. -arrive which makes farmers panic about the safety of their cultivated plants.