Please watch for Spotted Lanternfly

[Jennifer Clifford]

Hi,

By now you have probably heard that a population of the Spotted Lanternfly has been detected in Worcester county. This is a very serious invasive pest. It is not a fly, but a planthopper, and is therefore capable of feeding on many types of forest and agriculturally important plants.

You can read the UMass announcement here:

https://ag.umass.edu/cafe/news/spotted-lanternfly-arrives-in-massachusetts

Attached is an info sheet that I drafted. You may find it handy to print as it has images of the life stages. Feel free to share this.

PLEASE, if you see any of these stages (right now it would be the adult stage since they are beginning to lay eggs), take a photo (if possible), destroy it (if possible) and report the finding to https://massnrc.org/pests/slfreport.aspx

If you find yourself out of state in an area that has established populations of SLF (this includes CT, DE, NY, NJ, PA), please check your vehicle and other inanimate objects before returning to Massachusetts. SLF will lay its egg mass on just about anything!

Thanks for your help in watching out for this pest.

Jennifer