A spotted lanternfly is pictured after being found Saturday at Hogan’s Hut in Stow. Those who find a spotted lanternfly are asked to collect the insect, put it in a plastic bag and freeze it, or place it in a jar with rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer. Email a picture and location to spottedlanternfly@agriculture.ny.gov. Photo courtesy Chautauqua County Master Gardeners

The spotted lanternfly’s inexorable march across the state has landed in Chautauqua County.

The Chautauqua County Master Gardeners shared a Facebook post on Saturday showing a spotted lanternfly at Hogan’s Hut in Stow. Those who find a spotted lanternfly are asked to collect the insect, put it in a plastic bag and freeze it, or place it in a jar with rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer. Email a picture and location to spottedlanternfly@agriculture.ny.gov or at agriculture.ny.gov/reportSLF

According to the U.S. Agriculture Department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the spotted lanternfly is an invasive planthopper that feeds on a wide range of plants, including grapes, hops, stone fruits, and hardwood trees – including Tree of Heaven plants that the Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy has been trying to remove from the banks of the Chadakoin River over the past couple of years.

During an online news conference in September 2023, Chris Logue, state Agriculture and Markets Divison of Plant Industry director, said the spotted lanternfly was first discovered in the United States in 2014; on Staten Island in New York in August 2020; and most recently in Virginia, North Carolina, Indiana and Michigan.

The insect is known to feed on more than 70 plant species. They are known as good hitchhikers and have the ability to move around during all of their life stages, which Logue said presents a challenge. Egg masses particularly have the ability to be transported long distances.

“There’s still a lot that we don’t know about the spotted lanternfly and we don’t want to be caught by surprise in the future if it begins to cause issues on other crops or natural resources that are important to us,” he said.

While the biggest concern still remains with the spotted lanternfly’s impact on grape crops, Logue said other crops may be at risk once more is known. Logue noted the spotted lanternfly’s ability to suck the sap out of a plant, leaving it stressed, and then leaving behind honeydew and sooty mold. Sooty mold has the ability to reduce plant photosynthesis while honeydew has a chance of “causing an off” later in the grapes or other crops.

The spotted lanternfly also makes it unpleasant to be outdoors, something that Logue said the Department Of Agriculture and Markets is also watching. The state has been partnering with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other states to work on solving the spotted lanternfly problem.

Locally, the spotted lanternfly has been confirmed in Buffalo and Syracuse — though in small numbers. New York’s first detection was in the late summer of 2020 on Staten Island, with the spotted lanternfly’s presence confirmed last year in Romulus, near the grape-growing region of the Finger Lakes, Geneva, Ontario County; Schenectady, Schenectady County; and Cohoes, Albany County.

The spotted lanternfly’s life cycle has them emerging from their eggs in May. During the winter months, Logue said it was encouraged to scrape off egg masses to decrease their population.

“It is a fairly small insect, black body with white spots,” Logue said of the insect while a juvenile. “It does not have the very showy wings of the adult spotted lanternfly.”

IDENTIFYING SLF AND SLF EGG MASSES

The adult spotted lanternfly are easy to identify at one inch long and half an inch wide at rest, with eye-catching wings. Adults are active from July to December and begin laying eggs in September. Eggs are laid in one-inch-long segmented rows of up to about 50 eggs covered in a creamy-white, putty-like substance that becomes pinkish-gray as it dries. After a few weeks the covering turns a darker tan and starts to crack, resembling a splotch of mud. Depending on the substrate, egg masses can be difficult to see and may be laid in protected locations that are difficult to inspect thoroughly. Photos and additional information about identification and SLF lifecycle is available on the state Integrated Pest Management’s website.

SCRAPING EGG MASSES

The spotted lanternfly can lay eggs on any number of surfaces, such as vehicles, stone, rusty metal, outdoor furniture and firewood. Scrape egg masses off their surface using scraper cards, credit cards, or anything else that is hard, tapered and flat. Kill the eggs by putting them into a resealable bag that contains rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer and dispose of them in the solution to be assured they will not hatch. Each egg mass contains up to 50 eggs, so removing as many as possible can reduce the numbers that will hatch in the spring.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU SEE A SPOTTED LANTERNFLY

As part of the state’s response efforts, the Department of Agriculture and Markets Division of Plant Industry are working with partners and stakeholders to determine the extent of the population in these newly reported areas. In December Ag and Markets officials said Upstate and Western New York residents should remain vigilant through the spring when spotted lanternfly eggs begin to hatch, and report sightings by following these steps:

– take a photo,

– collect a sample and place it in a freezer or in a jar with rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer,

– contact the spotted lanternfly responders and report spotted lanternfly directly at agriculture.ny.gov/reportslf, and

after reporting spotted lanternfly and collecting a sample, kill any additional spotted lanternfly by stepping on it or crushing it.