BUFFALO, N.Y. — According to the US Geological Survey, there are over 6,500 invasive plants, animals, and insects doing damage to the ecology at a cost of over 100 billion dollars a year.
One current invader is the Spotted Lanternfly. Native to Asia, this beautiful but destructive pest was first discovered in southeast Pennsylvania in 2014.
Alejandro Calixto is Director of Cornell University's NYS Integrated Pest Management Program.
"We think it was introduced in stones or rocks that are being shipped from Asia that are used for landscaping. The introduction was probably of egg masses. So those egg masses were attached to those stones and we suppose they survived the first winter."
The spread has been very fast and is now in 11 states including New York. The first Empire State infestation was discovered in Staten Island in 2020 and has now been found as far as Ithaca. Calixto says that the epidemic has been aided through human intervention.
"They can lay the eggs on vehicles, on stones, on bark, and those are easily transported from one location to another. So it's not that they move a lot, it's just that human activity promotes dispersion."
The Spotted Lanternfly is particularly harmful because it feeds on a variety of plants, and Calixto explains that it can be especially damaging to agriculture. "Grapes are the main one, they will go after apples but apples can withstand the attack of the Spotted Lanternfly, hops might be impacted."
For those tasked with stopping this advancing horde the job is not an easy one. The Director says they need the public to help.
"Each one of the people in the state can become a citizen scientist, if they get engaged in looking everywhere, and if they find something that they think is a Spotted Lanternfly, it is very important for them to report that very quickly."
You can report a Spotted Lanternfly sighting to the NY Department Of Agriculture & Markets here.