(Acrosternum hilare) A large green member of the stink bug family (Pentatomidae) that usually undergoes a generation on wild hosts, such as elderberry and wild cherry, before moving into cotton, often during boll formation. Feeding by adults and large nymphs with needle-like stylets, often on bolls of all sizes, causes small, rounded, dark spots on the exterior carpel wall; feeding can transmit hardlock organism, resulting in unharvestable bolls and low-quality lint. This species’ life cycle (egg to adult) typically takes 30 to 35 days.
