Is this a tick?
I found this bug crawling across the outside of our refrigerator door. The house is in a wooded area near the Tualatin river. At first I thought it was a tick, but I think it just has 6 legs plus antennae? Also, it's not brown and shiny, but black and gray.
Clackamas County Oregon
1 Response
You have a good eye. It’s not a tick. It’s a nymph (youngster) of the brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys, and often referred to as BMSB. They can be serious pests in the garden and landscape. They’re also major nuisance pests when they come indoors during late fall and through the winter. The diagnostic characteristic that identities these stink bugs are the white bands on the antennae. (See http://ento.psu.edu/extension/factsheets/brown-marmorated-stink-bug)
I suggest you dispatch all that you see. Pesticides seldom work but flicking the beasts into soapy water always does.
