Pentatomidae affect several economically important crop plants; though most of them are phytophagous, some species are predatory and a few are known to be vectors of Phytoplasma. This is the largest group of Pentatomoidea with lots of variation in size, shape and colouration, thereby lacking a precise diagnosis. But they can be recognised by the following characters:the scutellum is usually large and subtriangular, frena present, which usually extend beyond middle of scutellar margins, the reduction or absence of claval commissure and the tarsi are usually three segmented (Rider et al.,2018).
The members of this family are commonly called as stink bugs because of the powerful scent emitted from the external scent efferent system, which is located on the metapleuron. The eggs are barrel-shaped with pseudoperculum, laid in groups on leaves or on stem or on bark of trees. They can be collected by sweep nettings and/or by light trap. A few species such as Udonga montana (Dist.), Catacanthus incarnatus (Drury) and Agonoscelis nubilis (Fabr.) show mass emergence and aggregation behaviour on various plants including non host plants.
This site dealt with taxonomic and other information of all the species of Pentatomidae of India and is under continuous development.
