Hailey Diehl, sophomore, and Brynn Keyser, freshman
The Spotted Lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) is an invasive insect. They feed on the sap of many types of plants. Their favorite snack is the Tree of Heaven. They have been found in multiple counties that are now under quarantine such as Bucks, Berks, Carbon, Chester, Delaware, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Monroe, Montgomery, Northampton, Philadelphia, and Schuylkill County.
A Spotted Lanternfly is a six-legged insect with wings that are a dark, brownish-red shade with black spots near the head. On the back of the wings, it has an odd pattern of light yellow and brown. It looks like small words from a book. When its wings are open, It looks like it has two sets on of wings on each side. The top pair is yellow and brown, and the bottom is black and white. It also has a red and black underwing. The Spotted Lanternfly is about two inches long, one inch wide has two beady black eyes, and can blend in very well with trees when its wings are closed. Most adult Spotted Lanternflies freeze when winter rolls around, but their eggs can withstand about all types of weather. An adult lays egg masses, and a single egg mass can hold from 30 to 50 eggs. An egg mass is a white lump that is usually on a tree or a flat surface.
The Spotted Lanternfly is not native to the United States. It originated from China, India, and Vietnam. They have also invested in South Korea and Japan. These bugs get to America from shipment and traded goods. Workers in factories now have to check everything, from chips to tires, to make sure that there are no Spotted Lantern flies coming over.
Spotted lantern flies do not sting or bite, but that is not the reason so many people are outraged they are in Pennsylvania. The pesky bugs instead are proving to cause a great economic loss due to their food source. With a broad spectrum of an estimated 70 plants they thrive on, the food industry is worried about losing mass amounts of crops. Some specific worries are for grape, maple, oak, pine, apple, hops, and walnut plants. When a spotted lanternfly goes to eat, it uses its mouth as a straw-like beak to suck up extensive amounts of sap. This in itself causes the plant severe damage and stress, but then the spotted lanternfly also releases a substance called honeydew. The honeydew boosts the growth of sooty mold, which is a black mildew fungal mold. The sooty mold then blocks sunlight from reaching the plant and ruins the photosynthesis cycle. In the end, the plant will die from being weak. There are multiple popular methods being used to terminate the spotted lanternfly population. The most popular being to simply crush them by stepping on them or hitting them with something. Even at Palisades High School, students and faculty are participating in killing them. “I’ve done my part toward humanity and the world by stomping on them” -Mrs.Rood. If many spotted lanternflies are found on a property, tree banding may be a good idea. There are classes and tree banding kits if one wishes to be extra involved, but the basic is that the tree band is sticky and goes around a section of the
tree.
Eventually, spotted lanternflies will land on it and not be able to escape and they will then die. With winter coming up, the adult spotted lanternflies will be dying off. That does not mean the epidemic will be over because the eggs can last throughout the winter and hatch in the spring to continue the problems. An egg mass can contain 30-50 eggs, and the females will lay them on any flat surface they can, including vehicles and trees. Egg masses recently laid will have a grey, waxy, mud-like coating. Hatched eggs will be brownish. If these egg masses are spotted, the best thing to do is scrape them off the surface and either burn them, put them in hand sanitizer, put them in alcohol, or dispose of them in another effective way.
Spotted Lanternflies are becoming more and more of a problem as their population in Pennsylvania grows. “They are a nuisance on society” -Mr.Antonio. The overall goal is to kill off all the spotted lanternfly organisms in Pennsylvania so they can stop destroying important plants. They do not have a natural predator in Bucks County, but it seems humans are trying to fill that position.
Information courtesy of:
Phillips, Susan. “Spotted Lanternfly Could Be Worst Invasive Species In 150 Years.” NPR, NPR, 10 July 2018,
“How To Remove Spotted Lanternfly Eggs.” Penn State Extension, extension.psu.edu/how-to-remove-spotted-lanternfly-eggs.
“Spotted Lanternfly Identification and Concern.” Penn State Extension, extension.psu.edu/spotted-lanternfly-identification-and-concern.
“The Spotted Lanternfly: An Invasive Insect That Is Beautiful but Threatening.” Entomology Today, 4 Jan. 2018, entomologytoday.org/2014/12/04/the-spotted-lanternfly-an-invasive-insect-that-is-beautiful-but-threatening/.
“'Troublesome' Spotted Lanternflies Can Result in Harmful Crop Loss for Farmers.” Local Weather from AccuWeather.com - Superior Accuracy™, www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/troublesome-spotted-lanternflies-can-result-in-harmful-crop-loss-for-farmers/70005102.
Welch, Sara. “How to Stop the Spread of the Spotted Lanternfly.” Farm and Dairy, 5 Mar. 2018, www.farmanddairy.com/top-stories/how-to-stop-the-spread-of-the-spotted-lanternfly/474204.html.
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