In US, Invasive Spotted Lanternflies Are Devastating Crops
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
At first glance, the spotted lanternfly looks like an elegant butterfly, speckled with black spots on white wings with a splash of bright red.
But the insect native to parts of Asia (Lycorma delicatula) is attacking plants and trees in the United States, and officials are moving quickly to try to contain its spread.
"The only good spotted lanternfly is a dead one," said Amy Korman, an entomologist at Penn State Extension, a part of the university that provides training and education in everything from farming to food safety to landscaping.
The insect was first detected in the United States in 2014, in Berks County, Pennsylvania. An egg mass was found in a shipment of stone from China, according to experts who have tracked its progress.
The SLF-as experts call it-poses no threat to humans or animals, but it has caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage in the US agricultural sector, even though it has only been found in 14 states.
[...] Spotted lanternflies have a particular affinity for grape vines. Scientists have observed dozens, even hundreds of them on a single vine.
[...] Several US states have tasked scientists with finding a way to eradicate the SLF-a true race against the clock, as entomologists predict the pest will reach the US West Coast-and its storied vineyards-by 2027-2030.
[...] On the grassroots level, residents have organized makeshift patrols to kill the bugs-because they don't fly far, they are relatively easy to smash, but their relatively large size makes the task rather unappetizing.
In Westchester County, in the northern suburbs of New York City, sniffer dogs are being deployed to find SLF egg masses-and giant vacuums are being used to suck up older specimens.
Some have gone so far as to poison the sap of the tree of heaven, one of the insect's favorite trees that also comes from Asia.
But the spotted lanternfly does not have a natural predator in North America.
Read more of this story at SoylentNews.