Even after seeing maybe 10,000 of them now, they still seem kinda cool.
And look at what @thomaseverest is finding on the dead ones!
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/133327529
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/132437960
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/132438099
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/131474759
There are probably 1000 lanternfly cadavers within a couple of blocks of me right now, tempted to go look for weird fungi and other bycatch…
I’ve found tons of camel crickets feasting on exuviae and dead lanternflies over the summer (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/128253639), haven’t noticed any fungus growing on the dead ones but yeah huh, I’ll have to check now lol
So you’re going to be able to cherry pick these responses and say that some naturalists report that the spotted lantern fly serves an ecological purpose? (It’s impossible not to serve some ecological role in any given ecosystem). There is clear evidence of harm, and the fact that you do not know that is a little disturbing in this forum. Invasive species is a LARGE problem, and one of the reasons that Elizabeth Kolbert reports that we are undergoing a Sixth Extinction. Read the chapter New Pangaea. Whether or not we find the lanternflies cute or not (I personally think they are gorgeous), they are going to do untold damage to ecosystems before there is any meaningful adaptation. I hope you take the advice of nickgreatens and interview scientists before you create any clickbait. Thanks.
A bit unrelated, but I’d like for outlets to emphasize how exactly they got here, and not just where they’re from. In many cases I find that articles that simply say “…they come from China” have lead to racist/dogwhistle messaging by people in fairly significant amounts. This reminds me of the same messaging that occurred during the early days of COVID. The usual ‘bioweapon’ suggestions, as well as other racist ones.
If how this species, and possibly by extension, Tree of Heaven arrived in America was talked about a lot more, hopefully such beliefs would decline, at least somewhat.
I’m curious, what are your thoughts about spotted lanternflies as an ecological threat? I live in New Mexico, so I’ve been aware of spotted lanternflies, but not in detail. The articles I have seen seem to focus on agricultural impacts. I’m not sure if that’s because this is basically a threat to crops with little ecological impact beyond our foodstuffs, or if the threat to crops is just taking up all the oxygen.
crop wise they like to feed on grapes and the sugary honeydew they excrete causes lots of black sooty mold to grow everywhere, which can smother out plants, but otherwise they seem to be a bug very much tied to disturbance and anthropogenic habitats much like their invasive host plants, you don’t really see lanternflies in abundance in actual good habitat where Ailanthus hasn’t been able to really take hold
+1 - my personal perspective is that humans should seek to undo the damage we do to ecosystems, which includes introduction of invasive species. I believe we are the custodians of nature and few things are as destructive in the long-run as invasive species (I believe 2nd greatest thread to biodiversity, after climate breakdown). I’ve seen the own effect in my hometown of invasive weeds creeping into pristine native habitats following roads and logging and it’s an irreversible effect for which we have no idea of the ramifications in hundreds of years to come. It’s sad to see people both-sidesing the issue of invasives: from my perspective, there’s no good way to spin species introduction which totally short-circuit evolutionary processes (in Kolbert, a particularly upsetting example is the Chytrid fungus + golden toad extinction).
Yeah, that doesn’t sound like a species I’d be very worried about as a botanist & ecologist. Were I a vintner, I would presumably have a very different opinion.
Ummm, of course. You seldom see any organisms in areas where they haven’t really taken hold. Having said that I get your point. Do you have any evidence that suggests lanternflies need Ailanthus to spread? Their tastes seem to include a lot of native species.
Ailanthus is their primary host plant even in their native range! Makes them taste bitter as sin to predators thanks to the cocktail of chemicals they get from the plant (think monarchs and milkweeds). Additionally like, I live around them lol, they definitely are generalist when need be, but you really only see them in very high densities around plants they co-evolved with that are also successful invasives (Celastrus orbiculatus and Porcelainberry are also pretty often used by them)
I can go into my backyard and count tons around the Ailanthus sprouts I’ve been playing whack a mole with with glyphosate, or on the giant mature tree down the street, but when I walk into the woods like a 5-10 minute walk down the road dominated by native species of tree? Yeah there’s noticeably way less of them, adults fluttering around here and there but they’re not in the same high densities
I understand. Do you have any actual evidence that lantern flies require Ailanthus to spread?
" The spotted lanternfly Lycorma delicatula (White) is an invasive insect spreading throughout southeast Asia and eastern North America. The rapid spread of this species is facilitated by the prevalence of its preferred host, tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima" https://doi.org/10.1093/ee/nvaa093
I’m not making it up lol, go look on google scholar yourself for even more papers mentioning the very clear link between an herbivorous insect and its preferred host. I’m not trying to downplay its adverse effects on crops and the fact that it can adversely affect native plant species, but I do tend to think about them in more of an ecological context than a “how does this bug affect crops” context
Yes. I’ve read it before but that is not what I am asking. Facilitated and required are far apart. Something that requires a specific host plant is limited by the distribution of the host plant. Something that is ‘facilitated’ by a host plant does not. The simple fact is that we do not yet know how big of a problem lantern flies will become.
On the topic of predation, the other day I saw a lanternfly jump into a pond and get eaten by a sunfish. Probably doesn’t happen all that often, but the fish didn’t spit it out so maybe they aren’t affected by the taste of them.
You’re getting into interesting territory with regards to knowledge and attention. Here’s another question to consider: How many non-native insect species in the US meet the criterion you’re focusing on—we don’t have solid knowledge of the extent to which it requires a particular host plant?
And a related question… imagine two insect species: 1: known to be rapidly expanding its range, and to be abundant in disturbed habitats where non-native plants are abundant but sparse in more intact habitats where non-native plants are few. 2: known to be rapidly expanding its range; known to be abundant in some areas, but the relationship between its pattern of abundance and other factors like disturbance and presence of potential host plants is unknown.
Or save the elephants by releasing cows in African savannas
As far as I am aware from what I have read it seems to overwhelmingly affect grapevines, Ailanthus (itself an invasive, of course), and maple trees. The primary concern is economic, and as much I’ve searched for even a scrap of information about it, I have yet to find any indication that native habitats are at risk from their introduction – it could certainly be a case of crops taking the spotlight for very anthropocentric reasons, but given that Penn State’s official line on lanternfly damage is that the lanternfly “has a strong preference for economically important plants” I would imagine even a breath would be spared for native habitat preservation if that were not the case.
If anyone is researching the effects of lanternflies on native habitats or knows anything in more detail, please let me know.
Thanks. It’s… reassuring? Well, not reassuring… to know that it’s not just my inattention that makes the situation seem a bit confused.
That birds can eat the spotted lanternfly is a terribly shallow argument. Such birds are almost definitionally generalists–how else could they switch to some ecological newcomer for food–and they’ll switch to something else just as easily in its absence.