Spotted Lanternfly

• Detected in Pennsylvania in 2014, it has become one of the most publicised insect invasions in the United States, with campaigns urging the public to squash any individual they see.
• Its honeydew coats the ground and the vegetation under infested trees and encourages a black fungus, sooty mould, that blackens leaves, cars and street furniture.
• It is closely tied to the tree of heaven, itself an invasive tree, whose bitter compounds it accumulates as a chemical defence.
• It appeared in the United States in Berks County, Pennsylvania, in 2014, and there are now infestations in nineteen states.
• As it feeds it excretes sugary honeydew that drenches everything beneath the tree; fermenting, it smells of vinegar, and a sooty mould grows on it that smothers the leaves.
• It lays its egg masses on any hard surface — vehicles, trailers, garden furniture, firewood — and that is how it travels.
• A 2019 study estimated that, uncontrolled, it could cost Pennsylvania 324 million dollars and more than 2,800 jobs a year.
• By feeding on plants that produce cytotoxic compounds it becomes toxic itself, and in its invaded range hardly any generalist predator will attack it.

Skeleton type

Invertebrate - chitin exoskeleton (insect)

Habitat and environment

Tree of heaven, vineyards and orchards in temperate regions

Size at birth

First-instar nymphs of 3.6 to 9.4 mm; the egg mass measures about 25 mm

Sexual maturity

Mating takes place shortly after the adults emerge, in mid or late July; laying begins in September

Gestation / incubation

The eggs spend the winter in the egg mass and hatch between late April and June; the hatching rate is 60-90 % depending on the winter temperature

Litter / clutch size

30 to 50 eggs per egg mass, arranged in vertical columns; each female lays one or two egg masses

Sources consulted: Wikipedia (es): Lycorma delicatula · UMass Amherst · UC ANR · USDA CAPS datasheet (Park et al. 2009, Dara et al. 2015) · Animal Diversity Web · UMass Amherst, guia de insectos · Animal Diversity Web, Lycorma delicatula · NCBI PMC10926472 · Connecticut DEEP · USDA CAPS datasheet Lycorma delicatula (Dara et al. 2015)

Best time: Nymphs from late April to August; adults from mid-July until the first frosts