"Clearly, the whole spot was infested," she said. Her partner, an entomologist, put four in a plastic bottle to show co-workers on campus what they look like. "I came back, and I said to my partner, 'You know, I saw a spotted lanternfly,' " Estes said, "and she was like, 'Oh, I'm sure there's more. Heide Estes did just that after seeing a spotted lanternfly on a Sunday walk in Long Branch, New Jersey, this month. "Join Jersey's Stomp Team" read billboards in New Jersey showing a shoe about to stamp out an insect. New York City parks officials agree, advising: "Please squish and dispose." just get rid of it," reads a post by Pennsylvania agricultural officials. In Pennsylvania, residents in quarantined counties are asked to check for the pests on dozens of items - from their vehicles to camping gear to lumber and shrubs - before heading to nonquarantined destinations.Īround the East, people are being asked to report sightings to help track the spread. But public involvement is front and center. Spotted lanternfly fighters are doing everything from applying pesticides to cutting down trees of heaven - another invasive species that is a favored host of the spotted lanternfly.
#Spotted lantern fly kill portable#
Eggs laid on portable surfaces, like camping trailers and train cars, can hatch in the spring many miles away. Females leave masses of 30 or more eggs on all sorts of surfaces, from tree trunks to patio furniture.
People also unknowingly transport spotted lanternfly eggs, which are laid later in the season. "What you're really after is anything that maybe is alive, that is kind of hunkered down in there and is not going to get blown off the vehicle during the trip.
#Spotted lantern fly kill drivers#
Drivers this time of year unwittingly give lifts to adults, which look like moths, perched inside trunks, on wheel wells or on bumpers. The insect has been able to spread so far, so fast because it is a stealthy hitchhiker. Individual insects have been spotted in more states, with two turning up in Iowa this summer. Eight years later, there are reported infestations in 13 states, mostly on the East Coast, according to the New York State Integrated Pest Management program at Cornell University. It's likely that insect eggs came over with a load of landscaping stones. "Be vigilant," said Chris Logue of New York's Department of Agriculture.Ī native of Asia, the spotted lanternfly was first identified in the United States in 2014, northwest of Philadelphia. The sap-sucking insects also pose a danger to grapes and other agricultural crops, which is raising alarms this summer in New York state wine country.Īcross mid-Atlantic states, officials are asking people to help them track and slow the insect's spread, even if they have to put their foot down. They excrete a sticky substance called honeydew that can collect on outdoor furniture. In cities, they swarm outside buildings and land on pedestrians. Pretty with red wing markings, the spotted lanternfly is nonetheless a nuisance and a threat - the sort of insect that inspires people to post about squishing and stomping them on social media. Kill-on-sight requests in New York City and elsewhere are a part of public campaigns to fight an invasive insect now massing and feeding on plants around much of the eastern United States. But he said it "seems like something worse" if the insect's population explodes. I'll catch and release cockroaches if I find them in my apartment," Nixon said. When Stephen Nixon recently noticed a "beautiful" spotted lanternfly by his bag as he skateboarded in Brooklyn, he heeded the request of city officials.
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