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.

Habitat & environment

Tree of heaven, vineyards and orchards in temperate regions

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycorma_delicatula