As the invasive spotted lanternfly continues to spread across the Northeast, officials are looking to keep tabs on the Island to stop any infestation before it begins.
According to Jennifer Forman Orth, an environmental biologist at the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, there have only been a few sightings of the spotted lanternfly on the Vineyard and the cause for concern is limited.
However, Ms. Forman Orth and her team are closely monitoring the presence of the insect and are encouraging Island residents to be on the lookout.
“We’ve been working with organizations that are on Islands that we know care about issues like invasive species and can help get the word out so that we can detect any populations of spotted lanternfly if they’re there,” said Ms. Forman Orth.
Lanternflies are not dangerous to humans but can have a negative affect on numerous crops.
Notices have been posted at various locations around the Island as part of an outreach effort led by the department of agricultural in partnership with BiodiversityWorks, a local conservation and wildlife monitoring organization.
“Seeing a single individual [lanternfly] on the beach doesn’t mean you have an infestation,” said Ms. Forman Orth. “It could easily just have hitchhiked over to the Island in someone’s vehicle or something like that. So, it could just be one-off individual hitchhikers that are getting to the Island from the mainland.”
According to Ms. Forman Orth, the first spotted lanternflies appeared in North America in 2014, arriving in Pennsylvania via shipments from abroad of crushed stone. Since then, they have been spreading across the continent and have been discovered as far south as Georgia and as far west as Indiana.
Once the adult insects have mated, the females lay their eggs, which are enveloped in a gray mud-like cocoon. As soon as the first frost of the year arrives, all of the adults die, leaving the egg masses behind.
After the eggs hatch in the spring, the insect will develop over four different stages of wingless nymphs, molting from one stage to the next.
“The nymphs eventually molt into adults, starting in late July to August, depending on the temperatures,” said Ms. Forman Orth. “Then the adults are just around feeding until they start to meet and lay eggs in late September, early October.”
When feeding, lanternflies will drill a hole into a plant to get to its sap. The process creates a gooey substance that can be harmful to plants.
“They excrete this sticky, sugary waste product called honeydew that coats everything around and under them, and it could just be a big problem,” said Ms. Forman Orth.
While lanternflies will feed on most any type of plant life, they are most attracted to grapevines and the Tree-of-Heaven tree.
“BiodiversityWorks has been helping to track down locations where there are Tree-of-Heaven’s on Martha’s Vineyard, because if there’s Tree-of-Heaven in the area, the lanternflies will find it,” said Ms. Forman Orth. “You can basically use a known site where there is Tree-of-Heaven as a place to go scout for lanternflies regularly. Several locations of Tree-of-Heaven on Martha’s Vineyard have been added [to iNaturalist] over the summer.”
Spotted lanternflies feed on over 100 different types of plants, added Ms. Forman Orth. They are also attracted to black walnut, and the nymphs can sometimes be found on poison ivy and Asian bittersweet.
“Part of the reason this pest is so successful is because it finds something to feed on that makes it taste very bad to any potential predators,” said Ms. Forman Orth.
The department of agricultural has published a management guide to illustrate the appropriate process in dealing with a spotted lanternfly siting. It describes how to deal with an infestation as well as how to safely remove them if discovered.
For more information regarding the spotted lanternfly or record a sighting, visit mass.gov/slf