The Spotted Lanternfly: Have you “Spotted” Them?
- by Guest Contributor
- June 23, 2021
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By Ryan Reed
Thousands of southeastern Pennsylvania residents have, unfortunately, had the unpleasant experience of dealing with this extremely invasive and destructive pest, which will be hatching soon (if not already).
In 2019, at my home in Annville, I killed three. Last year I dispatched over 3,800, and I shudder to think what it will be like this year. This type of exponential population growth indicates vast (and potentially yet-unexploited) resources for population growth and range expansion, helping to explain how the spotted lanternfly has gone from infesting one county (Berks) to 34/67 commonwealth counties in less than a decade, as well as all of our neighboring states.
Their mind-boggling expansion has undoubtedly been aided by their remarkable adaptability, and the virtual smorgasbord of vegetation that awaits them, statewide. Essentially everywhere they fly, hop, or crawl, they find food or a place to deposit their eggs. The Bureau of Forestry’s Dr. Houping Liu has demonstrated through research that they can feed in nearly all Pennsylvanian settings, whether wild, like a forest, or agricultural and urban/suburban landscapes. They prolifically feed on wild maples, walnuts, birches, ashes, willows, elms, and vines like foxgrapes and Virginia creeper. They also really enjoy a “taste of home”, in the form of pervasive invasive species like tree of heaven (its preferred host), multiflora rose, Oriental bittersweet, and bush honeysuckles. Cultivated agricultural plants like wine and table grapes, hops, apples, figs, hazelnuts, and blueberries all appear to be on the menu for SLF. Economic impact analyses have shown the potential for hundreds of millions of dollars of annual harm, along with losses of thousands of jobs. It may be no overstatement to say that spotted lanternflies represent the next great invasive scourge akin to those we’ve experienced before, whose seriousness rivals or exceeds those of the chestnut blight, Asian brown marmorated stinkbug, and gypsy moth. Indeed, the threat the lanternfly poses may necessitate a coordinated and aggressive suppression program similar in scope to the bureau’s gypsy moth program.
Interestingly, Dr. Liu has reported on a similarity that lanternflies share with gypsy moths. He observed a parasitoid wasp, which typically feeds on gypsy moth egg masses and was introduced over 100 years ago for that purpose, using lanternfly egg masses instead. This finding indicates a potential for some already existing biological control. Dr. Liu’s other research projects have shown insights on preferred egg laying hosts, sites, and orientation (they seem to disfavor laying eggs on the eastern side of a trees, while favoring branches on some species and trunks on others).
While Dr. Liu (and many others) continue their work to stockpile valuable information to help guide the fight against lanternflies, its “all hands on deck” for the rest of us. Please learn to identify them and their egg masses, and squash and scrape. Learn to identify tree of heaven and do your best to eradicate it. If you can, use wildlife-safe traps on your trees, and inspect items like lawn furniture and RVs for egg masses before transporting them out of your county.
Where it has yet to be observed, let us all do what we can to make sure that “spotted” lanternfly is just its name, rather than its current status.
For more about lanternflies, please look here:
About the Author
Ryan Reed is an Environmental Education Specialist in the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Forestry. He possesses degrees in Wildlife and Fisheries Science and Wildlife Technology, while currently pursuing a master’s degree in Environmental Pollution Control. He has also worked for the Pennsylvania Game Commission, and taught high school sciences for 11 years. He is especially interested in biodiversity and ecology. A lifelong hunting and fishing enthusiast, Ryan resides in Harrisburg, PA.
