A spotted lanternfly at a vineyard in Kutztown, Pennsylvania in 2019.
Photo: Matt Rourke (AP)
Have you seen a black and white bug flying around? Does it have vivid red back wings? Is it covered in polka dots that would make Cruella de Vil envious? If so, you’ve seen a spotted lanternfly, and a zillion of its friends are probably in your area, too. Scientists across several East Coast states are begging the public to kill these flashy bugs on sight, as 2022 shapes up to be a boom year for the destructive invaders.
Researchers and entomologists across the Northeast and into the Midwest have noticed that, not only have the numbers of spotted lanternflies increased, their range has also widened into more states. The eggs can spread on trees, rocks, and vehicles, which researchers think has increased the lanternfly’s territory. They thrive off the sap of plants, leaving crops and trees weakened and dry.
These bugs are new to the U.S. and have no natural predator here, and they happily lay their eggs just about anywhere. This means they’re reproducing fast and furiously, destroying native plant life. Anne Johnson, a PhD student in the department of entomology at Pennsylvania State University, said that the lanternflies look like they’re setting up a “boom-bust cycle,” which could explain why their numbers have surged this year. She think’s we’ll see years when they seem to “disappear,” only to come back with a vengeance after a year or two.
The bug is one of many invasive creepy-crawlies that have wreaked ecological havoc across the United States. Swarms of the spotted lanternflies have now been recorded in several states, including Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, Connecticut, New York, and Massachusetts, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The bugs likely first arrived in the U.S. from Southeast Asia in 2012. Entomologists believe they came as undetected egg masses on stones that were shipped into the country. The first real swarms hit in Pennsylvania in 2014, and sightings have only increased since then. …….
Source: https://gizmodo.com/spotted-lanternfly-invasion-2022-1849396127