An army of hungry parasites and predators could soon put the spotted lanternfly on the dinner plate.
The invasive pest, known to weaken and kill trees by feeding on their sap, has been found in every county of Connecticut, according to the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Fairfield and New Haven counties have the largest populations.
But bats, praying mantises, assassin bugs and other creatures are starting to recognize the spotted lantern fly as a new food source, according to Gayle Ridge, an associate scientist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station.
“There’s over 500 species of spiders that will feed on it,” Ridge said. “The calvary is coming.”
In Pennsylvania, a study shows a parasitic wasp, known to feed on the eggs of Spongy moths, is starting to do the same with spotted lanternfly eggs. Other species of parasitic wasps are known to feed on the spotted lanternfly in Asia, where the insect is a native species.
“Basically what the female does is lay an egg on the host, or lay an egg on the host's egg,” Ridge said. “Then the youngster hatches and then goes into the egg and reams out the egg, or goes into the body of the host insect, and weans it out.”
But it’ll take several years for bugs and insects in the United States to recognize the spotted lanternfly as a regular part of the food chain, Ridge said. The spotted lanternfly was first detected in the U.S. in 2014.
“This is not, you know, the click of a finger,” Ridge said. “They just need to learn that there's a new food source. And once they go for it, they'll start to begin to work at the numbers and bring down this explosion of population.”
In the meantime, if you find a tree covered with spotted lanternflies, Ridge said you can spray the trunk of the tree with hornet and wasp spray. The pesticide will kill spotted lanternflies as they feed on the tree’s sap
Áine Pennello is a Report for America corps member who writes about the environment and climate change for Connecticut Public.
