The "The Invasive Lanternfly Has Returned" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Was checking out the foliage to the rear of our new home in Woodcrest Villa when I saw a small bug with spots on it.  Nah!  Just couldn't be a spotted lanternfly!  Or...could it?  The weather is starting to warm up in Lancaster County which means more insects will be arriving.  So, why couldn't the spotted lanternfly be returning to our neighborhood?  The invasive species is native to Asia and not a "true fly", but instead a type of plant hopper that is closely related to cicadas, leafhoppers and treehoppers.  

The invasive laternfly

The lantern fly was allegedly first discovered in Pennsylvania in 2014.  Many horticulturalists believe that it was here long before that.  Seems it was brought here by accident, but that's another story to be told later.  Those of us living in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania should expect lanternflies to begin to hatch by mid-May, if not sooner.  The eggs of the lanternfly generally hatch from April through June but hatch times vary across each state.  Population size depends on the number of live eggs present from last year's adults, and there are many factors that can affect insect populations.  We in Lancaster, Pennsylvania saw a rather mild winter which can affect lantern flies' population in many different ways.  Rainy weather can support the development of fungal pathogens that attack insects, and hot or cold temperatures can cause lantern fly legs to develop slowly or even kill them altogether.  Lancaster County is one of 51 counties in Pennsylvania's quarantine zones created by the state Department of Agriculture.  Within the quarantine zone, the department restricts movement of certain plants, landscaping materials and construction waste, among other items.  Residents should be on the lookout for egg masses right now.  Egg masses often look like blobs of cracked mud.  People can smash eggs or scrape eggs into a plastic bag with some rubbing alcohol or liquid hand sanitizer to kill them.  Personally, I think they are a neat looking bug, but realize the havoc that they can create if they begin to multiply.  So, we all must do our best to try and eliminate the pests whenever or wherever we can.  Keep a lookout for the little red bug with the black stripe and white dots on them and try an help eliminate them if possible.  You will be helping everyone in your neighborhood if you do so.   It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.