Genetic mapping of rice stink bug aids crop pest control

Even though farmers have been dealing with rice stink bugs as pests since the 1880s, entomologists are still getting to know them at the genetic level. A first-of-its-kind study published on the genetics of rice stink bugs offers clues that could shape the battlefront on insecticide resistance for a tiny creature that costs Arkansas farmers millions of dollars a year. Rice and grain sorghum are the main economic crops, yet the bug feeds on many kinds of plants.