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Spotted Lanternfly Lands in U.S.

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The spotted lanternfly (SLF) is an insect with spectacular coloring, but that beauty comes with a cost.

This invasive pest has a taste for almonds, apples, apricots, grapes, peaches, and plums. SLF also likes to munch on hardwoods like oak, walnut, and poplar. Various estimates put the potential economic damage in the billions of dollars.

Originally found in China and North Korea, SLF was first sighted in the United States in 2014, in Pennsylvania. Currently, 13 Pennsylvania counties are under quarantine for this pest, and it has also spread to Virginia.

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An adult (winged) spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) on a spider web. (Stephen Ausmus, D4019-2)

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The spotted lanternfly goes through various stages of development, starting out as a small, black, nonwinged nymph with white spots. As it goes through several molts, its coloring changes from black to red before it reaches its adult flying form. The insect doesn’t bite or sting, but it sucks sap from trees and plants, leading to wilting, leaf curling, and even death. (Stephen Ausmus, D4016-6)

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The first step in controlling spotted lanternfly (SLF) is to understand its life cycle, which requires capturing the insects and then raising them in captivity. Here, a team of collaborators collects SLF nymphs near Reading, Pennsylvania. From left to right are Kim Hoelmer, an ARS entomologist from the Beneficial Insects Introduction Research Unit in Newark, Delaware; Julie Urban, an evolutionary biologist with Pennsylvania State University; and Tracy Leskey, an ARS entomologist with the Appalachian Fruit Research Station in Kearneysville, West Virginia. (Stephen Ausmus, D4011-5)

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Another way to understand the spotted lanternfly (SLF) is to observe it in its native environment and determine which insects control it. In a rural area around the city of Tai-an, a province of Shandong, China, USDA-APHIS entomologist Juli Gould (left) and Chinese Academy of Forestry entomologist Xaioyi Wang take photographs of a parasitized SLF nymph. In the background, graduate students from the academy count SLFs stuck to traps (yellow sticky paper) wrapped around tree. (Kim Hoelmer, D4004-1)

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In Beijing, China, ARS entomologist Kim Hoelmer of the Beneficial Insects Introduction Research Unit in Newark, Delaware, inspects trees for parasitized spotted lanternflies. So far, two types of parasitoid wasps have been identified: one that attacks the pest’s eggs and another that attacks two of its early developmental stages. (Kim Hoelmer, D4005-1)

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At the Seoul National University botanical garden in Anyang, Korea, university professor Seunghwan Lee (right) and graduate student Sanghyeok Nam look for spotted lanternfly egg masses to see if any have been parasitized. (Kim Hoelmer, D4006-1)

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Later in the season, it’s common to see spotted lanternfly adults and red-and-white nymphs together. (Stephen Ausmus, D4020-4)

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Spotted lanternfly egg masses on a post in Pennsylvania. These egg masses are not freshly laid, as indicated by their dark and granular appearance. (Tracy Leskey, D4022-1)

Researchers are hot on the trail of this invasive insect, known scientifically as Lycorma delicatula. The first working group meeting, attended by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists Tracy Leskey and Kim Hoelmer, was held in Reading, Pennsylvania, near the first SLF sighting. Scientists from ARS, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), and Pennsylvania State University gathered with local vineyard and orchard owners to assess SLF’s potential damage.

Leskey, an entomologist and laboratory director at the Appalachian Fruit Research Station in Kearneysville, West Virginia, is a co-director on the SLF Working Group grant. “I assisted the project director, APHIS’s Julie Urban, in organizing the meeting, chairing the industry panel discussion, and the discussions associated with development of research, extension/outreach, and regulatory priorities,” says Leskey.

Hoelmer, an ARS entomologist and research leader at the Beneficial Insects Introduction Research Unit in Newark, Delaware, is part of an international endeavor to control SLF. “With APHIS colleague Juli Gould, I traveled to China to find potential parasitic wasps that may be able to control the SLF population here in the United States,” says Hoelmer. “We found several candidates that are predators of SLF in China.”

Leskey and her team have work planned at Fort Detrick, Maryland, in biological quarantine facilities there. “We will be working on rearing protocols and colony development, host plant suitability, and impacts to fruit trees, as well as wild host trees often found at the forest edge,” says Leskey. “This work will be done in collaboration with Virginia Tech and Penn State, with some funding provided by the U.S. Forest Service. Further studies will complement those being conducted by collaborators at Penn State.”

In addition, Leskey’s group has some preliminary trapping trials in Pennsylvania. “We will be putting some up in Virginia, as well. This is a collaboration with our colleague Miriam Cooperband from APHIS, along with Pennsylvania State University and Virginia Tech.”

All of the research findings gathered by the international consortium of scientists will go far in controlling the potentially devastating SLF in the United States. —By Sharon Durham, ARS Office of Communications.

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