Spotted Lanternflies are very harmful to trees and are an invasive species so there are no natural predators to fight them off. Spotted lanternflies came to the US in egg masses on a shipment of tiles. Spotted lanternflies are native to China. Spotted lanternflies’ lifecycle is the eggs, 1st instar, 2nd instar, 3rd instar, 4th instar, adult, and finally the egg laying.
When you first see a Spotted lanternfly you think it is beautiful not knowing that it is killing a lot of trees. It’s black, white, and gray pattern make it look exotic like nothing we’ve ever seen. Spotted lanternflies are black with white spots for the 1st-3rd instar, the 4th instar is black and red with white spots, the adult spotted lantern flies front wings are grey with black spots of all different sizes, the hind wings are red with black spots, their legs and head are fully black, and their abdomen is black and yellow. I know people think these instar stages are beautiful because they are, but maybe they don’t know how devastating they are to trees and that they are the newest pest to start attacking US trees.
If you’re wondering why Spotted lanternflies are so harmful it is because the nymphs eat the sap out of the trunk and leaves, digests it, and creates waste called honeydew that can create sooty mold. The Spotted lanternfly affects many species of trees including:
-Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima)
-Willow (Salix)
-Birch (Betula)
-Black Walnut (Juglans nigra)
-Maple Trees (Acer)
and more sadly!
The trees in my yard are in danger because I have many of the species listed, but none of those trees show symptoms as of now. Symptoms of a tree being negatively affected by Spotted lanternflies are wilting leaves, sap leaking out of the tree, and single branches falling off. As you can see Spotted lanternflies are severely harmful to trees!
