Those stinkin' bugs

Everyone likes coming home to a cozy, warm house as autumn air becomes crisp and daylight draws shorter.

You know who else likes a warm house on a cold day?

Stink bugs.

Well, what many call "stink bugs" are actually Western conifer seed bugs. But they're pretty stinky, too.

"They come into houses. They're looking for some place that’s protected," University of Idaho professor Stephen Cook said Wednesday.

"People will suck them up into vacuum cleaner bags and they smell for weeks. I don’t mind the smell," he said with a chuckle. "My wife hates it. She lets me know."

Cook, who heads the entomology, plant pathology and nematology department at the U of I in Moscow, said what many North Idahoans call "stink bugs" — those long, flat, brown critters with long antennae and a particular perfume — are leaf-footed bugs, or Western conifer seed bugs: Leptoglossus occidentalis.

"They feed on conifer seeds — pine, Douglas fir, etc. — and do produce a rather pungent aroma," Cook said. "The smell is produced when they are disturbed and is probably related to a defense reaction, an attempt to avoid being eaten."

This time of year is when many North Idahoans notice them dropping from trees, trapping themselves between screens and windows and sneaking into houses. Cook said this year has produced an abundance of these bugs.

"All summer long we have had a large population," he said. "They are in high density. That happens every now and then. We don’t know exactly what causes it; we had a large population about three years ago that rivaled this one."

Unless you're a seed, these conifer seed-craving creatures are harmless, Cook said.

"They're a real problem in seed orchards, people who are trying to get seed for reforestation efforts. They do destroy a lot of seed," he said. "They stick their mouth parts into a cone and will suck the content of the seed out. They’re incapable of feeding on people. They don't have mandibles. They don’t bite."

True stink bugs look more like a beetle and are green or brown in color, Cook said. Although common, they don't get into houses the way the Western conifer seed bugs do.

"I sweep them up and put them back outside when they enter my house," Cook said. "They spend the winter as adults in some protected area, which explains why they seem to like to come into houses during the fall, looking for a place to spend the winter."

Feeling bugged? Don't fret. These stinky intruders will start to make themselves scarce as the weather grows colder.