The Egyptians were plagued with locusts, John C. Reilly in the movie “Magnolia” was assaulted by raining frogs, Albert Camus sent dying rats to the streets of Oran in his novel “The Plague”, and now our beloved Haldane has been set upon by a new foe…. 

The only thing most people know about the infamous Spotted Lanternfly is that they should squish as many as possible. But why? Even some entomologists admit that the Spotted Lanternfly is a strikingly beautiful insect, characterized by its distinctive dots and red underwings. So what’s actually so bad about it? 

Ever since the Spotted Lanternfly arrived in the United States in 2012 from Asia, it has struck fear into the hearts of conservationists and farmers across the country. Even at Haldane, students have become very alarmed by their spread. Senior Lenny Chandler noted that “it’s crazy how fast they showed up everywhere!” and junior Alexa Arcigal said that “Besides being super bad for the environment, they just freak me out in general. Their size and color are really unnerving because I don’t frequently see any bugs that are their size in such large quantities”. 

The Spotted Lanternfly is so maligned because it is an invasive species. Invasive species are organisms introduced from other places that grow rapidly due to a lack of predators. These invasive species outcompete natives, decrease biodiversity, and, once their populations grow too large, are virtually unstoppable.    

Since its introduction over a decade ago, the Spotted Lanternfly has spread prodigiously to nearly twenty-one states. This spread, to anyone with reverence for the natural world, feels like nothing short of a biblical plague. The Spotted Lanternfly doesn’t simply loiter on tree trunks; it sucks the sap out of nearly seventy plants that reside in the United States. It excretes a substance known as Honeydew, which attracts the growth of Sooty Mold. Sooty Mold, along with diminishing the beauty of a plant, prevents it from photosynthesizing. Without photosynthesis, plants, unable to convert light into energy, will die. Although mature trees are unlikely to die, young saplings, grapevines, and many of the plants in the understory are highly at risk. Since the Spotted Lanternfly is such a new phenomenon, the long-term effects are still unclear. Hopefully, native birds and predators will discover a taste for the lanternfly, and the plants that it feeds on will develop a defense mechanism. However, it is also possible that the Lanternfly will cause instability in our ecosystems, decrease biodiversity, and put many native species at high risk of extinction. And since Spotted Lanternfly is just one of 6,500 invasive species in the United States, the future of our native wildlife has never been so uncertain. 

Aside from possibly huge implications for the future of our forests, the Lanternfly is wreaking havoc on agriculture. Due to Lanternfly’s preference for the sweet fruit and thin stems of grape vines, vineyards are highly at risk. According to Julie Urban, an evolutionary biologist in the entomology department at Penn State, the Spotted Lanternfly could cause $325 million in economic losses and result in 5,000 job losses in Pennsylvania alone, considering that certain vineyards lost as much as 90% of their vines due to infestation. In New York, the apple and grape industries are worth more than $350 million annually. In California, where the Spotted Lanternfly has not yet spread, the wine industry contributes $73 billion to the state and $170.5 billion to the US economy each year. An infestation there would be catastrophic. 

So what do we do? While the DEC is attempting to control the spread through Lanternfly-specific insecticides, forest traps, and Conservation Dogs, and the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets requires goods transported from areas with severe infestations to be inspected, there is plenty that we can do personally. Setting up traps, removing the Lanternfly’s host plant, the Tree of Heaven, vacuuming them off of trees, squishing as many as you see, and checking to see if any hitchhiked on your clothing are all effective ways to combat the spread. However, according to the USDA, destroying the egg sacs is by far the most effective method, since each egg sac contains between thirty and sixty eggs. Lanternflies lay egg sacs between September and December. These egg sacs, which resemble mud, can be found on trees between September and June. Scraping these eggs and soaking them in soapy water like captured adults is the easiest way to ensure they won’t hatch in the spring. 

Although the situation looks bleak, if we all dedicate ourselves to this cause, we have a shot at controlling this pest and preserving the beautiful wildlife in the Hudson Valley! Although crushing hundreds of insects and scraping eggs off trees may seem gross and even aggressive, these are immensely essential and impactful things we can do to protect nature. For the sake of our trees, flowers, soaring birds, the majestic Hudson River, and glorious Mother Nature, it’s time to start squishing Lanternflies.