Spotted Lanternfly "Knocking Right at the Door" of the Badger State

Tuesday, October 3rd, 2023 -- 8:01 AM

(By Margaret Faust, Wisconsin Public Radio) The spotted lanternfly is "knocking right at the door" of the Badger State after being detected in Illinois last week. 

According to Margaret Faust with Wisconsin Public Radio, the invasive species, native to southern Asia, is now in 16 states. First found in North America in Pennsylvania in 2014, it has since spread through the mid-Atlantic to the Midwest. Michigan had its first spotting last year.

Bill McNee, forest health expert with the Department of Natural Resources, said there is no way to predict when the species will arrive in Wisconsin. "Given how easily it's spread, how quickly it is spread into other states, it's virtually inevitable that we're going to get it," McNee said.

The spotted lanternfly is one of the fastest-moving invasive insects in the U.S. The bug can't crawl, fly or jump far, but it's a hitchhiking species, which means the eggs, nymphs and adults can move quickly on vehicles or inventory moved by humans.

The infestation in Illinois was near a rail yard in a city park. Shahla Werner, plant protection section manager at the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, said the rail yard is ripe with opportunities for insect hitchhikers.

"The concern is that maybe we do have it in Wisconsin already," Werner said. The spotted lanternfly does not threaten humans or most mature plants. But grapevines and young plants are vulnerable. The insect sucks on sap which reduces a plant's ability to photosynthesize.

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