Spotted Lanternfly Series 1 Article 1 -- Be Aware of the Spotted Lanternfly

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By Merry Bogert

This insect pest may arrive in Burlington County in the coming months.  Already in northern New Jersey counties and in Pennsylvania, the Spotted Lanternfly is likely to arrive this summer. This blog series will cover topics from identifying the insect to how to control its spread, including limiting its impact on county residents.

Introduction to the Spotted Lanternfly

The Spotted Lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) is a destructive insect pest native to China, Vietnam, and India. It was accidentally spread to Korea, where it has become a major pest of grape growing.

It was first discovered in the United States in September of 2014 in Berks County, Pennsylvania, which is northwest of the Philadelphia metropolitan area. It was found on three residential properties and one commercial property that deals in stone imports from Asia. Since then, Spotted Lanternflies (SLF) have been found in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, New York, and New Jersey (in Warren, Mercer, and Hunterdon Counties).

It is a large planthopper, a member of the insect Order Hemiptera, so-called “true bugs” with mouthparts designed to suck plant juices, not chew leaves. It reaches about an inch long at maturity and has a wingspan of about two inches. It has a black head and grayish wings with black spots, and their bodies seem to glow red, an effect from the red secondary wings that lie beneath the primaries (see photos below).

Their wing tips have a pattern that looks as if they are covered with tiny black bricks with grey mortar in between. In flight, the Spotted Lanternfly displays red hind wings with black spots on the section closest to the body, a white wedge in the middle of the wing, and a solid black wing tip. The abdomen is yellowish with black and white bands on the top and bottom. While they can fly, they are best at jumping from place to place.



(Photos: Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture)

Their preferred host is the also-invasive Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima) - and one mode of control involves control of this tree species. In its absence they have been found feeding on a large variety of plants, including apple trees (Malus spp.), grapevines (Vitis spp.), hops, stone fruit trees (Prunus spp. such as peaches, apricots, cherries, nectarines, and plums), as well as our common smooth-barked deciduous trees (walnut, oak, willow, maple, poplar, ash, birch, and sycamore), and even pines.


Photo: Tree of Heaven

These destructive pests feed by inserting their piercing mouthparts into the trunks, limbs, or twigs of host plants, then sucking the plant’s sap and weakening it. The holes they create are wounds which can continue to weep and that further weaken the plant. They do not consume the leaves or fruit themselves. Because they tend to feed in large groups at all stages of their development, not venturing too far from the egg masses from which they hatched, they can overwhelm any tree or plant they attack.

As they digest the plant’s juices, they manufacture a waste product known as honeydew. Sticky and sweet, it drips on foliage and fruit beneath the feeding Lanternflies and onto the ground beneath as well. A fungus called black sooty mold finds the honeydew to be an excellent growth medium and colonizes leaves, fruit, and bark wherever the honeydew has dripped, covering it all with a black powdery growth that is disfiguring and that reduces the leaves’ ability to perform photosynthesis, leading to increased plant weakening and death. The mold is so disfiguring that it makes any affected fruit unmarketable.

The Quarantine

New Jersey’s Secretary of Agriculture Douglas Fisher has said “The Spotted Lanternfly is an excellent hitchhiker, with the ability to travel on all types of vehicles as well as various landscaping, wood-based materials and agricultural produce. It's imperative that we stop the movement of this pest before it can make an impact on New Jersey."

To that end, both Pennsylvania and New Jersey are partners in a quarantine program designed to prevent transport/movement of the Spotted Lanternfly between the states and the sixteen counties (three in New Jersey and thirteen in Pennsylvania) where the insect has been found. The quarantines provide strict guidelines to prevent the movement of Spotted Lanternflies at any stage.

The New Jersey Department of Agriculture’s Division of Plant Industry “Spotted Lanternfly Quarantine Rules” can be accessed via the following link:
https://www.state.nj.us/agriculture/rule/R.2017%20d.190%20(50%20NJR%202235(a)).pdf

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