The spotted lanternfly, identified for the first time in Illinois in September, targets fruit trees. The spongy moth can defoliate large swaths of land.
Vince Burkle, of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, holds an adult spotted lanternfly found in Huntington, Indiana, on Aug. 17, 2022. While Chicagoans were alarmed to learn the spotted lanternfly had been found in Illinois last year, experts say spring is the time to take action against that insect — as well as another damaging invasive species that has made far more inroads and gotten less attention.
Egg masses are usually a cream color, according to Greg Dwyer, a professor of ecology and evolution at the University of Chicago, and appear spongy, with small holes across the surface. Both the spotted lanternfly and the spongy moth lay eggs in masses, but where the lanternfly may lay as many as 60 eggs, the moth can lay up to 1,000.
“The spongy moth is extremely voracious,” Dwyer said. “And sometimes it gets up to very, very high numbers, and will deploy to vast areas.”A spongy moth caterpillar crawls along partially eaten leaves of a tree in Trenton, New Jersey. “These things are really important to a lot of communities, certainly to agricultural communities,” Travis said. “People rely on what those plants provide, whether that’s grape juice or wine, and certainly hops and beer. So the spotted lanternfly has been known to really act as a big stressor.”and was found near railroads –– a primary pathway for invasive species.
“It becomes a one-two punch,” Bethke said. “If the tree is being defoliated every single year, it will grow back smaller. It’s like a bank account where you’re taking out more money than you’re putting in.” This year, Jo Daviess County and Carroll County were identified as counties with elevated moth counts, Bethke said. Cook and DuPage counties have previously engaged in preemptive spraying, according to Bethke, and are now seeing fewer spongy moths. That preemptive spraying, as well aswhich stops the moths from mating, is why spongy moth numbers in Illinois have tended to stay low, Dwyer said.
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