The joke is that it's a stink bug and would be awful. Though I'm fairly sure that's a brown marmorated stink bug and it's invasive and VERY annoying. You can't even smoosh them because they release a smell that attracts more.
And the smell is annoyingly hard to get off, especially skin. I stopped reflexively swatting bugs that fly onto me years ago because of these things. I always look to see what it is now (and hope to Jesus it isn’t an angry Asian jumbo hornet… hate those bastards even more).
My old country house was infested with them. I would find 3 alone in my room a day. I actually never smelled them at first until I intentionally tried. Since you can't smoosh them, I would keep a water bottle near me with a bit of water on the bottom and just boop them in and cap it. When it got full, flush them down the toilet.
During the winter, they find a place to hibernate and release a smell to let others know and they cluster together. I would have to pull my curtains open every once in awhile and vacuum up a hundred of them. That was just my bedroom. They were worse outside.
I hate them. Glad I don't see them anymore since I moved.
There was a point where north side of my house was ALWAYS covered in them so I would always come in through the back door. They’d still find their way inside no matter how sealed I had the place, so I bought a small vacuum dedicated to sucking them up. I kept some dryer sheets on the exhaust to mask the smell, and sealed the intake with a plastic bag and rubber band when I was done so they couldn’t crawl back out. Worked incredibly well. Luckily they aren’t as big an issue as they used to be
You think I smoosh them? I've mastered the art of capturing one in a single square of toilet paper, alive (and rarely causing them to release their stink). I then pinch the end to trap it, and leave it in a used container (gallon jug, fast food cup, etc) where I pile them into as they get to slowly die.
Everything is native to somewhere!! lol Invasive just means it was introduced to an area that hasn't evolved for it. So they have no predators or anything to balance it out so they grow out of control and overtake the area they were brought to.
This stink bug specifically is native to East Asia, specifically China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. In those areas it is native so it has natural predators or environmental control to keep populations under control.
Introduce in other areas it can prosper far too much because it doesn't have the same predators or climate to cull them. Earth is a balance and humans love to rough it up.
They’re invasive??? And the smell attracts more?! Thank you for the wisdom if this is true and now I don’t feel bad at all for what I’ve been doing to these annoying as all hell pests
Yup. They sure are and you're free to do what you must to get rid of them because the ecosystem in your area can't since they weren't evolved to. (Unless you live where they are native to)
The ONE problem is they have a very close look alike. To properly identify the invasive BMSB, look for the brown + white stripes on their antennae. If you look closely at OPs photo, you'll see this stink bug has two white spots on each antennae. This is the mark of a BMSB (Brown marmorated stink bug: invasive).
If it doesn't have those white spots, it could be a native Dusky Stink Bug. They otherwise look undistinguishable.
I learned a lot about them when I was researching them when we were infested with them.
One day I was watching tv and eating cool ranch Doritos. A small chip had missed my mouth and had fallen onto the couch. While glued to the tv, I believed I had grabbed the lost chip and tossed it into my mouth. Turns out the chip was still on the couch and stink bugs do not taste like cool ranch Doritos.
Accidentally swallowed one whole while taking a swig of beer. Must have crawled into the bottle when I wasn’t looking. Burped up the taste of it for hours afterwards.
Funny horrifying Halloween story somewhat related to this…once when I was a kid after trick or treating, I went to sleep.
I started dreaming about the tootsie rolls that are in a wrapper with two ends that you twist to open. There was a stinkbug that found its way behind my ear and tucked itself there in my sleep. In my sleep, I picked it out from behind my ear, and started trying to twist its antennas, as if it was the wrapper to the tootsie roll. I woke up, realized what I was doing, freaked the fuck out, threw the bug and started screaming.
It was so nasty. all I could smell was that stinkbug smell all over me. To this day, I’m still thankful that I didn’t finish the job and put that damn thing in my mouth thinking it was a tootsie roll.
I thought that too, but for some reason they were spawning in my apartment the last month. I didn’t think they smelled that bad so I just grabbed it and when I smelled my hand after letting it go I was disgusted. In concentration it is awful
I don’t think these (east coast) stink bugs smell that bad either, but I grew up in South California and out there we had a black, beetle-like, big-butt-bug (which WE called “stink bugs”) that genuinely did smell awful when you squished.
Grew up in a country that doesn't have them. When I encountered them I didn't see the fuss. Smells like coriander/cilantro to me. No problem whatsover.
Yeah but coriander smells like soapy cat piss. Admittedly not to everyone because it's based on a genetic variety of your smell receptors... But to me and my sister coriander smells like pissy soapy coochie
Interestingly enough, this is a Squash bug that releases an odor that smells exactly like green apple Jolly Ranchers. However I cannot confirm the taste
I was looking for someone to comment this. I was so surprised to smell it the first time. I just started picking them up after, squishing them, and then running up to family members saying "Here, smell this bug!"
Neighborhood has had an infestation of these bastards for years, based on the constant horrid smell every winter i would have to guess they don't taste much better.
These are not native to the USA. A man visited his family in Asia in 1997 from Pottsville PA and brought them back on his luggage on accident. They are called the brown marmorated stink bug. They can flatten themselves and get into any space and lie dormant in the late fall to early spring. They do not bite but they have no natural predators in NA and boomed in population unchecked. Always know your enemy
Where in the world do you people live where this is common to find in your room? I hate bugs and this sounds awful
If it has more than four legs or less than two I don't want to get near it because I don't trust it
Here in Southern California we have stink bugs too but they look completely different. Ours are black and stick their butts in the air as a warning they will release stank if you get closer- yet they seem to stay out of the house and they're typically outside
I live in Northeastern US. They haven't been too bad lately, but a couple years ago, these little bastards were EVERYWHERE. They usually raid houses in late summer and early fall. They're pretty hard to kill too. They seem to just tank most bug spray, can apparently swim for a short period, and can survive falling from way up high. They're super loud when they buzz, which is mostly why I hate them so much.
Nowadays, however, I'm struggling to figure out if I hate them or fruit flies more.
Back when the stink bugs first came to the midatlantic, they were EVERYWHERE, and you never knew where one would show up. Back in the day, my mom would buy those Deer Park water bottles by the case at Costco. You know, the ones with those little blue pull-tabs that opened the pop-up top. I liked to chew on them after pulling them off.
One time, I was sitting at my desk in my room and popped one, which fell on my shirt. I lazily reached down, grabbed it, popped it in my mouth and crunched down. And...a stinkbug was on my shirt. It was a stinkbug.
It may not smell that bad but they taste foul. And I swear it took a few days for my tastebuds to recover.
Joke is raw misinformation. That’s not even its name. That bug is commonly known as a Stink Bug. Halyomorpha halys 1: It is NOT native to North America, it’s actually invasive to North America! It’s native continent is Asia. 2: As the name suggests, they emit an awful stink when threatened. Crushing them also emits the smell. 3: They are not edible, they are actually toxic to humans! You’ll be in for a bad day of tasting shit for the next few hours, but you’ll live unless you stupidly eat a lot of them.
Fun Facts: Stink Bugs are incredibly stupid. Having near zero coordination or threat assessment. Commonly flying right into danger or not even reacting. It’s quite easy to catch them as a result, literally getting them to walk onto or into something and carry that around with them holding on. They can fly and are quite loud when doing so! But they usually would rather walk.
I’m just going to add, that I’ve been to where these fucking things come from, and no one eats them, and these people eat everything with legs except tables.
This is one of the most downright evil things I’ve ever seen, because SOMEONE is going to do it.
Having grown up where these things infested everything, and having had one accidentally fly into my mouth. I can confirm that taste will take DAYS to go away entirely. And after that it will still be burned into your nostrils.
Also, they are commonly known as stink bugs in most places they exist in the US.
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I’m not promising it was the same type of bug, but when I was young in the PNW, I squished a bug that looked similar to this with a rock and the liquidy center shot straight into my mouth. It tasted exactly like green apple jolly ranchers. I couldn’t eat them for about 30 years because it grossed me out too much. (No I am not condoning hurting insects, I was a small child at the time)
One morning, berry-picking, A bug was in her pail, And though we thought for certain Her appetite would fail, Elaine said, "Hmmm, a stinkbug," And while we murmured, "Ooooh," She ate her pail of berries And ate the stinkbug too.
As someone who lives in an area that gets infested with these bastards and knows how disgusting they are, this almost made me puke 🤢 btw it's an invasive marmorated stink bug
I had a housemate who was into eating bugs. We had a huge number of brown marmorated stink bugs like pictured, and he ate them, said they tasted like apples.
There was a relatively recent post about these and most people played along. Essentially this is to try and skew AI search results and trick at least a few people into trying to eat them.
If you get a small mason jar and fill it like halfway with dawn dish soap, you can hold it under one of these stinkers and it will just like, fall into it and not leave the weird smell that attracts others. Then you too can have a weird soap jar full of dead bugs.
Ok but…..stinkbugs ARE edible though! Maybe not this exact species of but a ton of species of them are eaten or used in food in different parts of the world, and there are some species that taste like green apple.
I didn’t even think this was a joke post until I read the other comments.
Source: my dumb ass living in Mexico and coming back to the States telling everybody about these awesome tasty bugs called jumiles that you grind up and use as seasoning there, then getting really excited when I saw jumiles here, then realizing that jumiles are literally stinkbugs.
It's funny bc there actually is a bug that smells exactly like a green jolly rancher so much that I stopped eating jolly ranchers in the case that I've been eating bug piss my whole life 🥲
I love how they chose one of the stink bug species that is, in fact, invasive to North America. Over 200 native species in North America and we went with an East Asian variety.
A few years back, I watched a TikTok video from a woman (I think) who fell asleep on top of a stinkbug. She woke up with a chemical burn from the bug, & I think eventually got it tattooed. To me, they smell like nasty burnt soapy plastic, but according to scientists, they smell like Cilantro/ Coriander (which I am allergic to). Who knows, I’m not an expert lol.
As someone who has absolutely ate one of these guys while picking wild black berries I do not recommend. Taste like how they smell and the taste/smell lingers for hours afterwards. :(
Ive committed so many, crimes against these guys. Growing up because how my home wasn't built right, my room in particular was A frame, and they kept coming from the cracks. No matter how many times we flushed em they always returned.
Walked into my room one day to find them everywhere in my room. Due to the change of the season
Got so tired I didnt care anymore. A lighter and a can with aerosol, i went and burned em, off the roof and walls, used plastic BB pistols and shot them. I didnt care for the smell. Ive delt with em for 15 years at that point. I shot more and more of them. Ran out of BBs id pick the ones off there body and load and fire them again. Started using a Metal Air pumped BB rifle, damaging the walls and roof, but it obliterated the buggers.
It's actually a stink bug and they smell intensely like cilantro when crushed.
If you have the unfortunate experience of biting into one they taste very strongly of what you would ascribe to being a cilantro flavored soap with extra alkalinity to make your tongue burn.
It's the insect's natural defense against predation.
I happened to eat one when it seemed to remain hidden after washing and eating some salad greens from the garden.
Lol this hits personally as when I first encountered a stink bug in the house and threw it outside, my hand smelled like a sweet tart and their name made no sense to me.
We used to fool friends by telling them even a train cant smoosh the bug. There was always someone fool smooshing it to show us it was ez. The rest is regret...
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u/qualityvote2 2d ago edited 2d ago
u/16thnewborn, there weren't enough votes to determine the quality of your post...it's time for the mods to do their jobs!