[Baltimore Sun] McDaniel researchers publish study on invasive spotted lanternfly
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The spotted lanternfly has joined the ranks of Maryland’s peskiest vermin in recent years, and has become a threat to local ecosystems and agriculture in Carroll County.
On March 11, the Maryland Department of Agriculture extended the spotted lanternfly quarantine zone to include all but six of the state’s 24 jurisdictions. Under the quarantine order, about 1,100 businesses that transport plants, yard waste, outdoor construction equipment and other items voluntarily must have at least one employee attend training to spot lanternflies and receive a permit.
Native to eastern Asia, the spotted lanternfly was first seen in the U.S. in Pennsylvania in 2014, but has since spread throughout the Eastern U.S. The species is known to feed on 70 different plant species, causing damage and stunting growth. The list includes grapevines, black cherry trees and sycamores.
Invasive lanternflies were first spotted in Maryland in Cecil County in 2018. Carroll County was added to the quarantine in March of last year.
McDaniel College professor Holly Martinson led a research effort that documented 12 plant species preferred by the lanternfly nymphs, the species’ younger developmental stages. The research discovered that lanternfly nymphs prefer to infest sweetgum, green hawthorn and eastern redbud, in addition to its previously known diet.
The research, which began in 2019, was published in Florida Entomologist, a peer-reviewed science journal, in 2023.
“Because this was a student project we had limited time to be out in the field,” Martinson said, “and we found some good things that were important to say. [Florida Entomologist] was a good fit for our style of projects. It’s peer-reviewed, and I was really, really pleased to be working with students who were motivated enough to take the project from a summer research project all the way through to publication. It takes extraordinary effort to do that.”
Anna Kuhn, 24, who graduated from McDaniel in 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in biology and German, said the research she contributed to provides helpful new insights into the insect’s preferences, but there is much that remains to be determined about the spotted lanternfly and the best way to address its spread.
“When spotted lanternflies are invading an area, we can kind of figure out what trees we need to focus on first,” Kuhn said. “This is such an emerging field that at the end of the day, any sort of information about how we might be able to manage them better is useful.”
As the lanternflies feed on the plants, sucking sap from trunks and stems, they excrete a sugary substance called honeydew, which attracts other insects such as ants and bees. As the substance ferments, it emits a foul odor, and it is often colonized by black, sooty mold, which also can inhibit the plant’s growth.
The pests pose a threat to agriculture, especially grape vines, which is a particular favorite of the lanternfly, Martinson said. Fortunately, lanternflies are not believed to pose a significant threat to forest trees.
Carroll has more acres of preserved land than any Maryland county, and about half of the county is farmland, according to the county website. The county produces more than $100 million worth of agricultural products each year, making agriculture the top industry in Carroll.
“The insects really like pretty much anything grape,” Martinson said, “which is a big problem for growers right now… right now it looks like there’s a lot of potential for losses for vineyards.”
Nurseries and commercial plant vendors may also take a hit, Martinson said. The spotted lanternfly is a generalist feeder, which means they may prefer certain special of plant, but there are relatively few environments in which a lanternfly would not feel at home. The lanternfly is believed to pose a more serious threat to smaller trees, she added, and there is no known commonalities among the pest’s favorite plants.
The insect preys on more than 80% of the trees at McDaniel’s Student Environmental Center in Westminster, which Martinson described as a sort of living classroom.
“We are already seeing an impact on agriculture,” Kuhn said, “and food prices are going up already. It’s a little worrisome to think about how this will impact all of our local agriculture and our local economy, not to mention how much money it takes to enforce quarantines.”
If the lanternfly’s proliferation continues, homeowners are likely to regard them as a nuisance, similar in annoyance level to a stinkbug population explosion, Martinson said.
“A homeowner is going to be concerned about spotted lanternflies because they’re a nuisance,” Martinson said. “They aggregate in large numbers, especially in the fall. The adults are big. They’re pretty, like they’ve got those bright red highlights, but they’re big and they like to aggregate together. So, if you’re gathering with friends in the fall, they can be a nuisance by being around.”
Martinson said the most critical step to stopping the lanternfly from harming local crops and other plants is to slow their spread by following quarantine rules, in order for scientists to have enough time to properly study the invasive insect’s place in our ecosystems and how to best combat it.
“Buying time for the research efforts to come to fruition is one way I’m thinking about this,” Martinson said.
Spotted lanternflies may hitchhike on cars, backpacks, or other items, so it is most important to check your belongings for the pests when traveling from a wooded area to a location outside of the quarantine zone. It is hard to say how helpful squashing a lanternfly is, Martinson said, because they gather in such large numbers.
The Maryland Department of Agriculture recommends that residents limit their use of pesticides, because the chemicals impact native bugs. If needed, the agency recommends applying a contact insecticide directly to lanternflies only when they appear in large numbers, and only applying pesticides to trees of heaven, one of the bugs’ preferred hosts.
Though the bugs are becoming widespread, the state asks residents in most of the state to submit reports when they see lanternflies, said Kenton Sumpter, entomologist with the state agriculture department. The agency requires a photo these days with a report, after one too many lengthy trips to the fringes of the state that turned up nothing — or native impostors such as giant leopard moths.
“We can all do our part in checking our cars and checking trees on our property for their eggs, and for individuals at any one stage,” Kuhn said. “We can all do our little part in curbing their population, but I think that it’s going to be bigger efforts in figuring out how to trap them and how to kill them. Over time, like we’re going to have to develop different methods and roll them out on a much larger scale, but we can all do our part.”
An important next step in understanding the spotted lanternfly will be deducing which local species can prey on the insects, and how this could be utilized to help control their population. Martinson said she may endeavor to publish a predator study in a journal like Maryland Etymologist, which is less widely circulated than Florida Entomologist, but has a greater emphasis on locally impactful research.
Kuhn said she has observed several different insects preying on spotted lanternflies and would love to see scientifically compelling research on the subject.
“There might be a little glimmer of hope in all of it, that there will be some amount of adaptation by our local generalist to help curb the population,” Kuhn said, “but that is by no means any excuse to be hands-off about it. We still need to be working very hard to curb their population, because they are going to be a problem.”
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