When Stephen Nixon recently noticed a “beautiful” spotted lanternfly by his bag as he skateboarded in Brooklyn, he heeded the request of city officials: He stomped on it.
Good Day New York Robert Moses was 'victimized' by a spotted lanternfly on the streets of Manhattan.
In cities, it swarms outside buildings and lands on pedestrians. It excretes a sticky substance called honeydew that can collect on outdoor furniture. The sap-sucking insect also poses a danger to grapes and other agricultural crops, which is raising alarms this summer in New York state wine country.
A native of Asia, the spotted lanternfly was first identified in the United States in 2014, northwest of Philadelphia. It's likely that insect eggs came over with a load of landscaping stones. Eight years later,in thirteen states, mostly on the East Coast, according to the New York State Integrated Pest Management program at Cornell University. Individual insects have been spotted in more states, with two turning up in Iowa this summer.
People also unknowingly transport spotted lanternfly eggs, which are laid later in the season. Females leave masses of 30 or more eggs on all sorts of surfaces, from tree trunks to patio furniture. Eggs laid on portable surfaces, like camping trailers and train cars, can hatch in the spring many miles away.
"Kill it! Squash it, smash it ... just get rid of it," reads a post by Pennsylvania agricultural officials."Join Jersey's Stomp Team," read billboards in New Jersey showing a shoe about to stamp out an insect. "The spotted lanternfly sucks the sap out of the vines," said Brian Eshenaur, an expert with the Cornell pest program. "And it makes them less hardy for the winter, so vines can be lost over the growing season."
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