Spotlight on the spotted lanternfly

By now, most people here on the Eastern Shore have heard about the spotted lanternfly.

The fly is a native insect from southeast Asia that was first identified in Pennsylvania in 2014. Since that time, its range has expanded rapidly, and it’s now found throughout the Mid Atlantic.

Early sporadic reports of the spotted lanternfly on the Eastern Shore began in 2018, and by 2020 it was found widespread in Cecil County. The fly is now found across all Eastern Shore Counties.

While the spotted lanternfly is colorful and interesting to observe, don’t be fooled by its unique appearance. It is a “leaf-hopping” insect and considered highly destructive. It can be particularly harmful to certain plants and trees. The Maryland Department of Agriculture recommends killing any lanternfly that you see.

Early in the spring, hatchlings emerge from an egg mass that were produced by adult females in the autumn months of the previous year. Once hatched, the lanternfly grows quickly.

By May, the insect has reached its second and third developmental phase. Early stage spotted lanternflies are mostly black with distinctive white spots. By the fourth stage, the insect begins to turn red with white spots. Not long after that, the fly begins to grow wings.

Lanternflies eat the sap of a wide variety of local trees, including the tulip poplar and the black walnut. Agricultural crops — especially fruit trees and grape vines — are also vulnerable.

During the first stages of its life, the lanternfly uses its tongue (known as a proboscis) and inserts it into the tender new growth of trees, sucking out the sap. While lanternflies aren’t considered fatal to the trees they feed on, they are stressors that can cause enough damage to stunt a tree’s growth.

The spotted lanternfly is very hard to kill with a fly swatters or sprays. In my experience, I’ve found that efforts to step on them require at least three and sometimes four attempts. Lanternflies jump in their early stages — by adulthood, the insect both jumps and flies, and they have the unique ability to jump just before being swatted. By the fourth attempt, they seem to get tired, and they become more vulnerable.

By August and September, adult lanternflies are starting to lay egg masses. Lanternflies deposit eggs into a mass that looks like smeared clay or mud and can often be found on the side of trees or any vertical surface. Each egg mass contains 30 to 60 eggs.

If you find lanternfly egg masses, it’s easy to just scrape off with a sharp edged tool, like a scraper blade, and most State agriculture departments encourage this practice.

In my experience in the field and forest, there’s another invasive predator species that seems to hunt for the spotted lanternfly. The European hornet, first identified in the U.S. in the 1840s is a predator species, eating mostly caterpillar larvae, smaller bees and other insects. I’ve observed the European hornet fly around woodland grape vines searching for lantern flies. It’ll be interesting to see if nature evolves enough to make the lanternfly a prey species to other insects or birds.

To learn more about the destructive dimensions of the spotted lanternfly, see the Maryland Department of Agriculture’s website.

Jay Falstad is a Maryland Master Naturalist and Executive Director of the Queen Anne’s Conservation Association. For comments, questions, or suggested topics about Eastern Shore nature, email him at jayfalstad@gmail.com