Animal
Spotted lanternfly
Lycorma delicatula
A 1-inch planthopper (not a fly, despite the name) native to China and Vietnam — first detected in the U.S. in Pennsylvania in 2014, and now established across the Northeast including Staten Island. Feeds by piercing plant phloem and excreting honeydew that supports sooty mold. A serious agricultural pest (especially of grapes, hops, fruit trees, and ornamentals) and increasingly a borough nuisance. NY State public-policy response: 'kill on sight' for adults and egg masses.
Scientific
Lycorma delicatula is a 1-inch planthopper (Hemiptera, Fulgoridae) native to China, India, and Vietnam. Adults distinctive — grey forewings with black spots, hindwings with a vivid red base and black tip, yellow body. Egg masses are 1-inch grey patches resembling dried mud, laid on tree trunks, stones, vehicles, outdoor furniture.
First detected in the U.S. in Berks County, PA in 2014. Now established across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic. Egg masses on outdoor surfaces hitchhike on cars, RVs, freight, and consumer goods — accelerating spread.
Feeds by piercing plant phloem; excretes large amounts of sticky “honeydew” that drips onto surfaces below and supports growth of sooty-mold fungi. Direct plant damage from feeding plus indirect damage from mold combine to make it a serious agricultural pest. Major concern for grape, hops, apple, and stone-fruit production.
Preferentially feeds and oviposits on tree-of-heaven ([[tree-of-heaven|Ailanthus]] altissima, also invasive in the U.S.) but uses many other host plants.
On Staten Island
Established invasive on the borough since the late 2010s. Widespread in residential areas and parks; common nuisance during late summer/early fall when adults are most active. NY State public-policy response: kill on sight for adults; scrape and destroy egg masses; report sightings to DEC.
The borough’s heavy population of tree-of-heaven (the common urban-disturbance tree) provides extensive lanternfly habitat. Long-term ecological consequences — including the fate of native fruit trees, vineyards in [[carolina-piedmont|upstate]] NY, and the borough’s parks shade-trees — are unfolding.
See also
Auto-generated from this entry’s typed relations: frontmatter, grouped by relation type so the editorial signal isn’t flattened.
- Counterpart to: [[bioregion]]
- Member of: [[animal]]
- Contained by: [[staten-island]]
- Threatens: [[tree-of-heaven]]
Sources
- Penn State Extension spotted lanternfly research and management records
- [[beacon-ny|New York]] State DEC spotted lanternfly outreach materials
- USDA APHIS spotted lanternfly invasion-status records
Rooted in life.
What links here, and how
Inbound connections from across the wiki, grouped by lens and by relationship. These appear automatically — every entity page declares what it links to, and that data populates here on the targets.
Scientific
substrate of
- Tree of heaven ailanthus is the spotted lanternfly's preferred host; the lanternfly's spread in the Northeast tracks ailanthus distribution
1 inbound link · 4 outbound