Spotted lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula
Order: Hemiptera
Family: Fulgoridae
Description and life history
Spotted lanternfly (SLF) is an invasive polyphagous planthopper native to Asia, specifically China, Japan, and Vietnam. They have straw-like mouthparts for feeding on plant vascular tissues. Since it entered the US in 2014, SLF has spread across several eastern states, but it has not yet been detected in Colorado. This insect causes injury by feeding on the phloem of fruit trees, grapevines, hops, hardwoods, and ornamentals.
Adults are about 2.2cm (7/8 inch) long and have brightly colored hindwings (red, black, and white). Nymphs are about 3.2-13 mm (1/8 – 1/2 inch) in length and are black with white spots when they are in earlier developmental stages (1st to 3rd instar) and red with white spots and black stripes when the nymphs reach 4th instar. Spotted lanternfly has one generation per year. Eggs are the overwintering stage and nymphs hatch in spring (April-June). Small black nymphs feed during early summer, and adults are usually active in mid-summer. Adults of SLF tend to prefer laying eggs on the tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima), although they will readily lay eggs on other hosts or hard outdoor surfaces.
Quick Facts
- Spotted lanternfly is an invasive and destructive pest that was introduced to the United States in 2014. This pest has not yet been detected in Colorado.
- Spotted lanternfly excretes honeydew which can attract ants, bees, flies, wasps, and promotes the growth of sooty mold.
- The tree-of-heaven is highly attractive to SLF. Monitoring is recommended through visual checks and trapping with sticky bands deployed around the tree trunk.
Injury
Spotted lanternfly feeds on a variety of woody plants such as fruit trees, grapevines, hops, shade trees and ornamental shrubs, but it has a wide host range of over 70 known plants. Adults and immatures feed on phloem and excrete excess sugars as honeydew, which can accumulate on leaves and attracts ants, bees, flies, wasps, and promotes growth of black sooty mold. Large numbers of SLF can occur on a single tree, sometimes numbering in the thousands.
Monitoring
Vineyards and nearby woodlands should be monitored from July-November. Currently, monitoring for SLF relies on the use of unbaited traps. The tree of heaven, a highly desirable host for SLF, can be monitored using sticky bands wrapped around trees or visual checks for eggs, nymphs, and adults. Circle traps can be made at home and are an effective monitoring tool at high and low population densities of SLF. Deploying circle traps on tree trunks 1 m (3.3 feet) above the ground appears to provide the greatest capture rate of SLF adults and nymphs. These traps can be checked every three weeks without reductions in SLF capture rates, although the samples often degrade when inspections are conducted this infrequently. The degradation of samples is of particular importance, as this issue may lead to false negatives, in which a SLF specimen is unrecognizable due to significant decomposition. Therefore, it is recommended that circle traps be sampled weekly or biweekly. Replaceable bag traps tend to collect more water than other traps used to monitor SLF, which causes samples to degrade more quickly and produces an unpleasant odor.
If you suspect you have seen SLF, it is recommended to take high quality photos and report findings online or send them to CAPS.program@state.co.us.
Management
Non-chemical management approaches include removal of attractive host plants (tree-of-heaven, grapes, wild vines, and weeds) and the mechanical destruction of eggs.
Given its status as a highly destructive emerging pest, research on the chemical management of SLF is ongoing. Current research is focused on identifying which insecticides can kill different life stages of SLF and remains a high priority for landscape professionals and plant nurseries. Currently, the most promising insecticide for killing eggs is the organophosphate chlorpyrifos, which killed 100% of eggs in a recent experiment. While many of the insecticides tested in this experiment imposed a substantial knockdown effect of the SLF population, only thiamethoxam and bifenthrin displayed residual activity against adult SLF up to 14 days after treatment. Given its very broad host range, treating individual trees infested with SLF is unlikely to be an effective management approach. However, area-wide applications of Beauveria bassiana have shown some efficacy in suppressing local populations of SLF.
CSU Extension Fact Sheet
References
Leach, H., D. Biddinger, G. Krawczyk, E. Smyers, and J. Urban. 2019. Evaluation of insecticides for control of the spotted lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula, (Hemiptera: Fulgoridae), a new pest of fruit in the Northeastern U.S. Journal of Crop Protection. 124: 1-6. Available https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261219419301735
Leach, H., and J. Francese. 2021. How to Build a Spotted Lanternfly Circle Trap. Penn State University – Extension. Available https://extension.psu.edu/how-to-build-a-spotted-lanternfly-circle-trap
Nixon et al. 2023. Evaluating deployment strategies for spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) Hemiptera: Fulgoridae) traps. Journal of Economic Entomology. 116(2): 426-434. Available https://colostate.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=cdi_proquest_miscellaneous_2784836031&context=PC&vid=01COLSU_INST:01COLSU&lang=en&search_scope=MyCampus_FC_CI_PU_P&adaptor=Primo%20Central&tab=Everything&query=any,contains,spotted%20lanternfly
Urban, J., D. Calvin, and J. Hills-Stevenson. 2021. Early Response (2018-2020) to the Threat of Spotted Lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula (Hemiptera: Fulgoridae) in Pennsylvania. Available https://academic.oup.com/aesa/article/114/6/709/6358080