The Spotted Lanternfly

The spotted Lanternfly is an invasive species. They are native, from China, India, and Vietnam. If you see a spotted lanternfly, you want to kill it, and smash their eggs. They lay their eggs on hard things, like trees, rocks, cars, outdoor furniture, ect.

Spotted Lanternfly eggs, are light gray bumps, camouflaged with the rock or tree bark they might be on. A juvenile Spotted Lanternfly, is like a miniature adult, but they are much smaller, and are black with white spots. An adult Spotted Lanternfly can be recognized as light gray with dark gray spots, and they have red and yellow beneath their wings.

They have sucking, piercing mouthparts that they use to pierce trees, and other plants. Spotted Lanternflys can not ite, or sting. They like the sap in trees, and leaves a sticky substance on the plant, that wasps enjoy.

Some predators for this invasive species, are chickens, cardinals, praying mantis’s, and spiders. Have all been known to eat Spotted Lanternflys. You can kill a Lanternfly by knocking them off a tree, and stepping on them. You can also kill them with a spray bottle filled with vinegar, or bug spray.

The average life span of a Lanternfly is about one year. They are eggs for the winter. In the late spring, and early summer, they are black juveniles. I mid to late summer, they are adults, and they start dying off in early, to mid fall.

I’ve always hated Spotted Lanternflys. I remember seeing one fall out of a tree, and I looked it up right away. I read that it was an invasive species, and I started killing them whenever I could. They’ve always been the second worst bug on my list. The first is a stink bug, and those will always stay first.

Thank you for reading about Spotted Lanternflys. If you have any questions, please send a comment, and I will try to answer. For more animal based content, go to Virginia eldonart.com. You can also shop for some nature inspired art, on virginianelsoart.com. Comment if you enjoyed this post. Thank You.