The spotted lanternfly is an invasive insect that has become a proven agricultural threat in many states along the East Coast, and it’s broadening its path of pestilence as far west as Indiana, Kansas, and Oregon.
The lanternfly sucks the sap, and eventually the life, from agricultural crops, orchards, vineyards, and trees. It has very few natural predators in the U.S., so here’s what local authorities are asking you to do.
Squash the Bugs on Sight
In many states local authorities are encouraging residents to kill lanternflies on the spot.
In a tweet posted in mid-September by New York City’s Parks Department, the government agency encouraged citizens to stomp the bugs. “Spotted lanternflies are a threat to our city’s forests,” the tweet read. “If you see a spotted lanternfly, squish it, dispose of it, and report it to us.”
The New Jersey Department of Agriculture has a lanternfly eradication initiative called Stomp It Out.
In Pennsylvania, where lanternflies were first seen in 2014, officials at the Department of Agriculture also gave residents the charge to do away with the invasive critter. “Kill it! Squash it, smash it…just get rid of it,” the agency wrote on its website.
The Lanternfly’s Ease of Mobility
For insects that aren’t big on flying, lanternflies have no problem getting around.
Although lanternflies have two pairs of wings they don’t fly much, making them what entomologists call plant-hoppers. But what the bugs lack in flight they make up in the placement of their eggs, which they lay not only on trees, but on vehicles, and even shipping containers—which is how experts say the pests crossed the Pacific Ocean from Asia seven years ago.
Due to the lanternfly’s ease of mobility via its eggs, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture earlier this year designated 34 counties as Spotted Lanternfly Quarantine Zones. In these jurisdictions evidence of egg masses were found, so the transport of items that could house eggs, nymphs, or adult bugs is regulated.
The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture wrote of lanternflies on its website: “These are called bad bugs for a reason, don’t let them take over your county next.”
