ATHENS - Researchers at the University of Georgia and Dow AgroSciences
have identified a kudzu-eating pest in northeast Georgia that has never been
found in the Western Hemisphere. Unfortunately, they say, the bug also eats legume crops, especially soybeans... a major cash crop in Georgia
The bug has tentatively been identified as the bean plataspid (Megacopta cribraria), a native to India and China. It is pea-sized and brownish in
color with a wide posterior, said Dan Suiter, an entomologist with the UGA
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
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