Host Plants and Seasonality of Euschistus latimarginatus Zimmer (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) in the Nebraska Sandhills

The pentatomid Euschistus latimarginatus Zimmer, described from Nebraska in 1910, remained little collected for decades, partly because it is not known from agroecosystems and lacks economic importance. Recent collecting has expanded its known range: North Dakota south to Texas and west to Colorado and Utah. Host plant records for this pentatomid of sandy communities are scant. I obtained bionomic information irregularly (2015 to 2022) by sampling diverse herbs and shrubs in the north-central Nebraska Sandhills, where the bug is common, and in sandsage prairie of southwestern Nebraska. Collecting in two loess prairie remnants across the Missouri River led to new state records for Iowa and Missouri. The stink bug developed mainly on fruits of its hosts. Three plants characteristic of the Sandhills, Penstemon bradburyi (Plantaginaceae), Tradescantia occidentalis (Commelinaceae), and Yucca glauca (Asparagaceae), yielded the most records. Adults overwintered on Juniperus virginiana (Cupressaceae) and in crowns of bunchgrasses and dispersed to early season hosts by the following May. The beginning of egg hatch was not determined; all five instars were present by late June. The mating pairs and early instars I observed in July probably were those of the second generation. Adults were scarce on hosts by late September and early October; others had dispersed to overwintering sites. Euschistus latimarginatus seems secure in the sparsely populated and largely intact Nebraska Sandhills based on the near absence of row-crop agriculture and good stewardship by cattle ranchers.