Butterfly weed, Schenley, 9 August 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
13 August 2023
The birds are quiet now but the bugs are busy.
After I photographed this butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) I zoomed in to look at the yellow spec on the back edge of the flower cluster and found a tiny yellow crab spider clinging to the flowers. My guess is that he’s a member of the Thomisidae family, lying in wait for something. But what?
Tiny yellow crab spider on butterfly weed, Schenley, 9 August 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
On Monday, while walking the Three Rivers Heritage Trail River opposite Herr’s Island, I noticed a caterpillar on the wide aluminum railing. It reminded me of the hickory tussock moth except that this one was blonde.
Sycamore tussock moth caterpillar near Herr’s Island, 7 Aug 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
iNaturalist identified it as a sycamore tussock moth (Halysidota harrisii). The railing was directly beneath his host plant, a sycamore tree (Platanus occidentalis).
Sycamore leaves and stems, Aug 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
The caterpillar walked rapidly down the railing in a straight line until Whoa! a spotted lanternfly red nymph walked rapidly toward him. The caterpillar made a detour.
Sycamore tussock moth detours to avoid a spotted lanternfly, 7 Aug 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
At Frick Park on 6 August we found a lot of millipedes on the paved Nine Mile Run Trail. iNaturalist says they are greenhouse millipedes (Oxidus gracilis), thought to be native to Japan but introduced around the world. They get their name from being a pest in greenhouses.
Greenhouse millipede, Frick Park, 6 Aug 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
And finally I was fooled yesterday by these mating orange and black bugs, as fooled as they intended me to be. They looked like milkweed bugs, but why were they on a false sunflower?
False milkweed bugs mating on a false sunflower, 11 Aug 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
Damaged adult spotted lanternfly, Pittsburgh, 22 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
8 August 2023
Aaarrg! They’re everywhere! Pittsburgh is in the midst of a spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) invasion and it’s just plain creepy. These bugs don’t bite but they’re large, they leap and fly unpredictably, and there are just so many of them. Even when damaged like the one above, they’re disgusting. Make them go away!
So what kills them? I’ve seen a few birds attempting to catch the nymphs but those few birds can hardly make a dent in such an overwhelming insect population.
For now it’s up to humans kill them. Not with poison but by more ingenious means.
DO NOT USE STICKY TAPE. It kills birds and beneficial insects –> Never Use Sticky Tape.
How about robots? Carnegie-Mellon’s Robotics Institute developed a robot that scrubs spotted lanternfly (SLF) egg masses off trees in winter so they can’t hatch the following spring. This is fascinating and useful in the long run for orchards but it doesn’t help us today. (1:29 minute video)
Another long term solution is to introduce SLF’s natural predators. Researchers in Delaware are studying two species of parasitic wasps from China that target spotted lanternflies but it will take years to make sure these tiny wasps are totally dedicated to SLF and will not attack North American species. If these wasps pass the test they’ll provide a long term solution for vineyards. (3:00 minute video)
And then there’s just plain killing them. The second half of this 2022 video shows how a woman in Gillette, NJ kills them in bulk. Favorite tool? An electric “tennis” racket! (Entire video here is 8 mins long. Excerpt is 4:00 minutes)
If you live in southwestern PA and haven’t seen a lot of lanternflies yet, just wait. Butler, Lawrence, Fayette and Somerset Counties were added to the SLF quarantine this year. Forewarned is forearmed … with an electric “tennis” racket!
Water beads on wax begonia, 17 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
22 July 2023
Other than a few thunderstorms it’s been a quiet week in Pittsburgh.
At the Cathedral of Learning the garden beds are beautiful with begonias while the peregrines, Carla and Ecco, hang out and finish molting. The pair is no longer courting but sometimes bow together — less than once a day in late July.
On Thursday I was lucky to find the right mix of sun and shade to show off eastern enchanter’s nightshade’s (Circaea canadensis) bur-like fruits. They are notoriously difficult to photograph.
Enchanter’s nightshade near Herr’s Island, Pittsburgh, 20 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
On 13 July a brief storm blew through Pittsburgh and broke this more than 100 year old London plane tree near Carnegie Library.
London plane tree at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh broken by strong wind on 13 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
Meanwhile spotted lanternfly (SLF) red nymphs are everywhere, soon to become winged adults. I found thousands of them along the Allegheny River Trail near Herr’s Island plus three adults, the first I’ve seen this year. This winged adult probably just emerged from the crumpled exoskeleton above it. Eewwww!
Spotted lanternfly adult near red nymphs on the Three Rivers Rowing Association building, 20 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
A few people along the trail were stamping on the nymphs and might have been recording their victories in the Squishr app (described here by WHYY). However, as Howard Tobias remarked a few weeks ago, “Tramping on spotted lanternflies is like trying to empty the ocean with a spoon.”
Are you upset by the bugs? Go hit the Panic Button at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh in the Main branch Music Department, 2nd floor. This Panic Button, built into a bookcase, used to be part of the old security system but was disconnected decades ago. Press it to your heart’s content. Very satisfying.
The Panic Button at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh (photo by Kate St. John)
And don’t forget to …
Confirm your paperwork? Or throw it in the bin? at Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, 19 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
Red nymph stage of the spotted lanternfly, Pittsburgh, 13 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
14 July 2023
Back in the ‘Burgh from our trip to Cape Cod, the first thing I noticed in my neighborhood was a troop of red nymph spotted lanternflies crawling on walls and sidewalks near an ailanthus tree — their host tree, a.k.a Tree of Heaven.
Red nymphs are the fourth and final instar in spotted lanternfly development.
They’re here, they’re creepy and they’re not going away any time soon. Spotted lanternflies (Lycorma delicatula) have made it to Pittsburgh and are following the typical trajectory of invasive insect pests: Barely noticeable (2018) to Overwhelming (2022, 2023+) to Hard to Find (declines in about 3 years: 2025).
The most important thing to remember is this from Penn State Extension: Avoid overreacting to the situation and teach others not to overreact. Insecticides won’t eradicate the pests but will kill the good bugs, bees and butterflies. Instead, let’s outsmart spotted lanternflies.
First, know the enemy and its weakness: Spotted lanternflies can only crawl up, they can’t reverse!
Second, learn how to manage them. This month Penn State Extension educator Sandy Feather is presenting practical in-person advice on how residents can contribute to combating the problem. I’m late to let you know about these two remaining classes:
June 12 — 6-8 p.m. at Frick Environmental Center, Point Breeze [tonight!]
June 14 — 2:30-5:30 p.m. at Pittsburgh Botanic Garden, North Fayette
Third, protect a favorite tree using this circle trap (video below). You can make your own circle trap or buy one here. Do not use sticky tape as it traps and kills birds (trying to eat the bugs) and beneficial insects.
Fourth, be brave. Yesterday Claire Staples outsmarted hundreds of spotted lanternfly nymphs by smashing them with her bare hands! Here are her photos and a quote from her email. (How many nymphs can you see in the right hand photo?)
Spotted lanternfly infestation on porcelainberry, Swisshelm Park, 11 June 2023 (photos by Claire Staples)
I killed over 200 in a 10 foot section along the power lines through Swisshelm Park slag heap. It was the only place where we found them but it was amazing to see the density. It was really easy to get them and my granddaughter watched and only a few escaped. I would take the small branch with the bugs in the palm of my hand and place the other palm on [top of] it and start rolling my hands together. I was amazed that my hands appeared clean and there was no odor. I did wash my hands later but I was surprised that there was no residue.
— email from Claire Staples, 11 June 2023
That’s braver than I would have been!
Meanwhile, the lanternfly population will eventually decline on its own. Here’s what happened in Berks County, PA where spotted lanternflies were first discovered:
2014: Barely noticeable. Spotted lanternfly first discovered in U.S.in Berks.
2018, 2019: Overwhelming. Everywhere! Some commercial grapevines killed.
First instar spotted lanternfly on a metal chair, Phipps patio, 4 June 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
5 June 2023
If you noticed spotted lanternflies (Lycorma delicatula) in Pittsburgh last summer you remember seeing this one-inch long insect.
Spotted lanternfly adult, 23 July 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
But they don’t start out this big.
Right now they are tiny black nymphs with white spots. I saw one perched on the edge of a metal chair yesterday at the Phipps BioBlitz and moved closer to confirm its identity. As I approached it jumped so far I couldn’t find it.
I tracked it down and smashed it with my shoe … and immediately wished I’d taken its picture. I found another one (there are lots of them) and learned how to get close enough for a cellphone photograph without making it jump. Not a sharp photo but you get the idea.
First instar spotted lanternfly on a metal chair, Phipps front patio, 4 June 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
The first instar(*) nymphs are tiny — just 1/4 inch long — and well camouflaged, even on a silver chair.
Ruler showing size of spotted lanternfly first instar (photo by Kate St. John)
Walking and hopping, they look for something to suck on, primarily Tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus altissima) but they are generalists so they’ll eat anything that appeals to them. Fortunately they are only deadly to Ailanthus and grapevines.
As they feed on plants the insects grow and change through various stages of development. The first, second and third instars continue to be black nymphs with white spots, just progressively larger [B]. The fourth instar is a red nymph with white spots at 3/4 inch long [C].
Right now they’re so small they are easy to overlook. When the one-inch-long flying adults emerge in July-to-September this invasive insect will be hard to ignore.
(*) Definition of instar. noun, ZOOLOGY. A phase between two periods of molting in the development of an insect larva or other invertebrate animal. — from Oxford Languages via Google
(photos by Kate St. John, life phases photos from Penn State Extension)
Ever since spotted lanternflies (Lycorma delicatula) made their disgusting appearance this July in Pittsburgh we’ve been crushing and smashing them, but it’s clear that we humans can barely make a dent in the population. Most of the bugs fly way above our heads and land high in the trees. We can’t reach them but someone else can.
Spotted lanternflies are completely new to North America’s native species, but the bugs look like food so Nature is stepping in to eat them. Predation results are far more successful than our smashing.
Who eats spotted lanternflies? You can see their photos in the Creative Commons licensed iNaturalist group: Spotted Lanternfly Predation in the U.S. Most entries are from New York City, New Jersey and Philadelphia. (Hey, Pittsburgh, post yours too!) Here are just a few examples.
Below, a great crested flycatcher eats a spotted lanternfly in Central Park, NYC. This photo was also tweeted by its author Hector Cordero (@CorderoNature).
UPDATE 18 Sep 2022, this post has attracted many new readers & commenters and has prompted this NOTE TO COMMENTERS –> Comments on this blog are moderated. If you post a comment that is profane or could inflame others, I will edit it or delete it.
(photos from Wikimedia Commons and iNaturalist; click on the captions to see the originals)
Frank Izaguirre’s experience in Oakland is typical. The first one appeared on 17 July but within ten days the number of bugs had grown so fast that finding and killing them, as recommended by the PA Dept of Agriculture(*), became a daunting daily chore.
Annie Quinn noticed them in a park and enlisting her kids to squash them on the ground. Then she looked up and saw hundreds and hundreds coating the upper branches of the trees. “Kids, this problem is much bigger than we are.”
Spotted lanternflies climbing a red maple (photo from Wikimedia Commons)
Indeed! I saw hundreds (thousands?) on the North Shore near the Carnegie Science Center on Tuesday 26 July.
And it’s going to get worse before it gets better.
Julie Urban, an associate professor of entomology at Penn State, said residents of the area will see a lot more lanternflies in September.
“They’re starting to emerge as adults about now and then when they start to mate more heavily you’re going to see a lot more in the first couple weeks of September,” said Urban. “That’s just when they’re more active. So, be ready for that.”
Since each female lanternfly lays an egg mass containing 30-50 eggs, the population grows exponentially every year: 1 > 50 > 2,500 > 125,000 > 6.2 million!
It took just 2.5 years to go from “What’s the problem?” to “Oh my gosh!”
There is no way we can squash them individually. However there are easy ways to passively kill them in our yards. Three years ago a girl in New Jersey came up with a very inexpensive and effective trap.
Other inexpensive do-it-yourself traps are described at these YouTube links: A simple tulle trap, the simplified hoop trap and an elaborate v2 Trap that requires tools. In any case if you make a trap, use netting not glue. Glue tape indiscriminately kills bees, bats and small birds that try to feast on the trapped bugs.
This is our first Summer of the Spotted Lanternfly in Pittsburgh, but it’s not the last.
When the invasive spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) was first discovered near Allentown, Pennsylvania in 2014, biologists and farmers worried that it would destroy agriculture and kill native trees. Now that the insect has been in North America for seven years and shown what it can do, scientists have their revised their advice about this bug.
Back in 2014 we had no experience with spotted lanternfly so we looked to another place where it is invasive — South Korea — and applied their experience to our landscape. The forecast was bad, the prognosis dire.
Fortunately the bug didn’t do what we thought it would. The only tree it kills is its host tree, tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus altissima), one of the worst invasive plants in North America.
The Allegheny Front reported in February that the widest economic impact is felt by businesses that must inspect everything before they transport goods — and potential lanternflies — from quarantined to non-infected locations.
The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture is still tracking the bug’s advance so report it in counties where it’s new. Here’s the spotted lanternfly quarantine as of March 2022.
as of March 2022
Like other invaders, spotted lanternflies surge in an area, then ebb when they exhaust their food supply. During a surge they are worse than annoying.
Overall, the spotted lanternfly is not as bad as we feared.
