Spotted lanternflies feed on the sap in plants, which it gets at by puncturing trunks and branches. Parts of the world are heading toward an insect apocalypse, study suggests Williamson/The Washington Post/Getty Images The field of sunflowers at Butler's Orchard farm attracts lots of human visitors but it's also popular with bees and butterflies who share a flower. “We actually just had our first confirmation of egg mass being laid in New York’s Hudson Valley, but we’re certain that it’s probably occurring throughout New York City.” “Now we’ve seen egg masses being laid on camp chairs, lawn furniture that’s left outside and even like a hat somebody left out during the egg laying season,” he said.

At first, Eshenaur told people to watch out for egg masses on firewood, but now he warns the bugs can lay eggs on almost anything. In the years since, spotted lanternflies have spread nearly everywhere in the Northeast, from Pennsylvania to Vermont, and now New York City.

“It can lay eggs there and then in the spring, those eggs hatch and if there are suitable plants in the landscape, they can take up shop in their new location,” he said. Spotted lanternflies are on the most wanted list: Get ready to stomp (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File) Matt Rourke/AP Crews using backpack sprayers and truck-mounted spray equipment are spraying the bugs along railways, interstates and other transportation rights-of-way, the state Agriculture Department said Friday, May 28, 2021. Pennsylvania has started using insecticide on spotted lanternflies, a new strategy that state officials are using in an attempt to slow the spread of the invasive pest. 19, 2019, file photo, shows a spotted lanternfly at a vineyard in Kutztown, Pa. Moreover, with colder temperatures, “it typically takes not just the first hard freeze, but a couple of hard freezes to kill them, and so cold snaps certainly aren’t going to knock back the population,” Urban added.įILE - This Sept. Spotted lanternflies prefer warm climates, so as temperatures rise in the northern states, the bugs’ range could only expand. “It’s possible that if your plants are around longer, lanternflies in warmer areas could persist longer and maybe lay an additional clutch,” or egg mass. “It’s a very distinctive and characteristic bug, and it is establishing in more places,” Julie Urban, research associate professor of entomology at Pennsylvania State University, told CNN. And the experts are sending a clear message: If you see it, squash it.Īs temperatures get warmer because of the climate crisis and the growing season gets longer, the lanternflies could be here to stay, and they are spreading to new areas. The insects, native to Southeast Asia, are spreading so fast in the United States experts say it has become challenging to control and manage them. How the climate crisis is forever changing our national parks A tourist takes in Liberty Cap and Nevada Falls at Yosemite National Park in California.

Lantern bugs