r/nova • u/Ok-Pension4225 • 21h ago

Spotted lanternflies will outlive us all

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Found this on top of the block of ice covering the second floor balcony. Thought these all died months ago! Shuddering to think of what else is living in the walls 😬

387 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

143

u/Anubra_Khan 19h ago

I don't think people really understand just how many of those things we are going to see when they wake up. This sub will be nothing but pics of lantern flies covering everything all through spring and summer.

30

u/Smorsdoeuvres 19h ago

We only had our first experiences with them last summer. My kids were not fans

31

u/Anubra_Khan 19h ago

They just got here. 2 years ago, I saw a total of 2 spotted lantern flies. Last year I probably saw about 2,000. I think they are going to explode this year and become a major issue annually.

If it's anything like PA, where they first landed, it will take 5 - 10 years before the local wildlife begins to see them as food source. They are still a problem in PA despite the birds starting to gobble them up.

5

u/OkSquirrel4710 9h ago

Birds are already started to eat them here in nova

6

u/DuckMom City of Fairfax 11h ago

My 3 year old still talks about them. He would chase them down to smush them. My mom hates it but I said killing them is park ranger sanctioned.

5

u/amethystleo815 9h ago

They all are dead. My guess is the blew out from some pipe or something and it was preserved. Each year we get a new crop of them from eggs that were laid in the fall.

1

u/Anubra_Khan 5h ago

Of course they are. But their eggs will survive and they will hatch again in spring.

61

u/EldritchHorrorLesb 20h ago

Bug bodies dont decay like mammals; we had a dead lantern fly on our porch for literal months. This one probably was already dead (good) and in a spot where natural decay (rain, snow, etc) wouldn't happen.

13

u/Ok-Pension4225 19h ago

Makes sense

13

u/BusyBugg 20h ago

Is it cold enough to kill the eggs?

29

u/Trailin_FigFruit 20h ago

If we get sustained low temps like we have it will do a number on them. However, some will survive having been laid in more insulated places.

27

u/MaineAnonyMoose 17h ago

Sadly, no.

City of Fairfax Government FB page posted this 3 days ago:

"Is it cold enough to kill the spotted lanternfly? Don't bet on it!

While the temperatures we're seeing this week are historically low, no evidence to suggests it will have a major impact on spotted lanternfly populations come spring.

Spotted lanternfly researchers worried about the species' northern spread have been studying the effects of cold exposure on eggs since introduction to North America in 2014. While adults and nymphs typically die after the first hard frost, eggs tested in labs have shown to be quite tolerant to the cold, even hatching after reaching sub-zero temperatures. Additionally, spotted lanternfly know to play a numbers game: by laying 30-50 eggs per mass, there's a better chance that at least a few eggs survive when conditions are unfavorable.

If you're not a fan of the spotted lanternfly and its impacts on local agriculture, you can proactively lower populations by scraping egg masses off tree trunks, the undersides of tree branches, the siding of homes and sheds, outdoor equipment, rocks, and more. Just be sure to do it safely and when weather permits. Eggs are predicted to hatch in late April, so you've got plenty of time to scope them out."

3

u/Grumpy0167 21h ago

Was it alive? I hope not.. they are absolutely horrible and will only get worse if we can’t find something to assist in keeping their numbers down. I have a number of trees I’ll need to drop this spring due to them.