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Catskill Regional Invasive Species Partnership
Image courtesy of The Delaware Department of Agriculture (DDA)

Image courtesy of The Delaware Department of Agriculture (DDA)

Spotted Lanternfly
(Lycorma delicatula)

Spotted Lanternfly (SLF) is an invasive pest from Asia that feeds on over 70 species of plants including grapevine, hops, maple, walnut, fruit trees. Feeding on tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima) may be important for this pest.

This insect could impact New York's forests as well as the agricultural and tourism industries 1 including breweries, orchards, cideries, wineries and outdoor activities.

SLF fly in swarms and densely cover surfaces such as sidewalks — their presence can negatively affect property values.


1 NYSDEC Spotted Lanternfly Factsheet

New and old Spotted Lanternfly egg masses, Image courtesy of Emelie Swackhamer at Penn State University.

New and old Spotted Lanternfly egg masses, Image courtesy of Emelie Swackhamer at Penn State University.

NY needs your help to find spotted lanternfly populations! The sooner an infestation is located, the faster and easier it is to manage.

New York State is looking for volunteers to record observations of Spotted Lanternfly and Tree-Of-Heaven in your area. Observations are made through the free-to-use official NY invasive species database, iMapInvasives.

The volunteer effort involves “adopting” a 1km grid square near you to check for possible Spotted Lanternfly individuals and egg masses.

Click here for more information.

 

Spotted Lanternfly Life Cycle 3

Spotted Lanternfly Egg Mass
Image courtesy: USDA-APHIS

The Egg Stage (October-June)

It is much easier to kill and control the eggs than to kill the 50 odd insects that hatch from each egg mass and one female is believed to lay at least 2 of these egg cases, making this stage perhaps one of the most important to control Spotted Lanternflies. Egg masses are laid on any smooth surface such as tree bark, boards, stones, outdoor furniture or vehicles. Fresh egg masses look like 1-2 inch long gray mud smears and turn dark brown.

Eggs can be killed by scraping them off with an old credit card into hand sanitizer or rubbing alcohol.

 

Instar Stage(s) of Spotted Lanternfly
Image courtesy: USDA-APHIS

The Nymph (Instar) Stages (May-September)

This is the stage that goes from the eggs’ hatching until they become an adult. Right after hatching, they are small and black with white spots, but increase in size and eventually develop red patches over their black portions.

During the Instar stage, SLFs are known to move up and down the tree.

 

Adult Spotted Lanternfly
Image courtesy: USDA-APHIS

Adult (July-December)

It is in the adult stage that the Spotted Lanternfly does the most damage.

From September through December, adult females enter a egg-laying stage. Killing a female before this stage can prevent 30-50 Spotted Lanternflies from being born per egg mass. It is thought that each female will lay at least 2 of these egg masses per year.

 
 
 
 
 

Honeydew

Because Spotted lanternfly, a phloem feeder, consumes large quantities of a plant's sugary sap looking for nitrogen and amino acids, it expels large quantities of excess sugar (honeydew).

Honeydew—often misidentified as sap—shows up on outdoor equipment, decking, and vehicles as well as pets, on clothing and hair, and also acts as a growth medium for sooty mold. No life stage of the SLF feeds directly on fruit, but South Korean grape and tree fruit growers found their crops unmarketable due to the growth of sooty mold on the skins. Sooty mold also inhibits the photosynthetic capacity of leaves and makes fruit unmarketable.

Where SLF is densely found in residential areas within the Pennsylvania quarantine zone, the volume of honeydew produced has some residents feeling like prisoners in their own homes, from late summer until the first hard freeze killing adult SLF. 2


2 New York State Integrated Pest Management / Spotted Lanternfly / Damage

 

A cluster of spotted lanternflies feeding on grapevine and excreting honeydew.
Video courtesy: Erica Smyers, Penn State

 
Spotted Lanternflies Image courtesy: USDA-APHIS

Spotted Lanternflies
Image courtesy: USDA-APHIS

What you can do

SPOTTED LANTERNFLIES ARE CURRENTLY BEING REPORTED THROUGHOUT DOWNSTATE NY DUE TO PROXIMITY TO PA and NJ. NEW JERSEY POPULATIONS ARE CREEPING NORTHWARD AND SIGNIFICANT POPULATIONS OF BUGS HAVE BEEN REPORTED JUST WEST OF NYC.

If you suspect you’ve seen an egg mass, instar, or adult insect, Take pictures of the insect, egg masses and/or infestation signs (include something for scale such as a coin or ruler) and please report your findings asap.

 
 
 

Spotted Lanternfly / In The News

 
 
Daniel Vasta for The New York Times

Daniel Vasta for The New York Times

‘Squash It! Smash It!’: Pennsylvania Implores Residents to Kill an Invasive Bug on Sight

Hordes of spotted lanternflies are flapping through the state, threatening agriculture. “They jump, they’re big, they’re scary,” one Pennsylvanian said. “It’s like all of your worst nightmares coming to fruition.”

GH Photos/Alamy

GH Photos/Alamy

Lanternflies Eat Everything in Sight. The U.S. Is Looking Delicious.

The spotted lanternfly can lay eggs on almost any surface and feeds on a broad range of plants, including many commercial crops.

Erica Smyers, Penn State University

Erica Smyers, Penn State University

New Finds of Spotted Lanternfly on Apple

Pennsylvania growers are no stranger to spotted lanternfly (SLF) – a sap-feeding planthopper native to Asia. The quarantine has been expanding and it has now been found in four other states: Virginia, New Jersey, New York, and Delaware.