Like Spotted Lanternfly and Asian Lady Beetle, these two species originating from China, but I never see in China. In the US, I saw so many times. Are there more predator in China?
Not necessarily more predators, but predators, parasites, diseases, et cetera that have evolved over millions of years to target those specific species they are in contact with.
I heard about in China, there have parasitic wasp to control Spotted Lanternfly. But parasitic wasp also can harm many other insects including many beneficial insect.
Asian Lady Beetle has the same issue, it can control harm instest well but also harm many other beneficial insect.
When an insect (or plant, or other organism) ends up in a new environment, it (1) doesn’t have the same predators as where it originated from; and (2) may/may not have certain advantages over other plants/insects/etc. in its new space. Also, the plants and such in the new environment haven’t evolved over time to account for the new insect or plant, and so are vulnerable also.
When spotted lanternfly showed up in the US, it didn’t have any of the natural constraints on its population that it had in China. Thus, there was an explosion in population, and unfortunately, spotted lanternfly is really good at hitchhiking on cars, so there was inadvertent spread of the insect via roadways. Spotted lanternfly (SLF) also had an advantage (compared to other non-native insects) because in the US, the host tree for SLF is also invasive here — tree of heaven. Tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima I think) is wildly invasive because of the sheer amount of seedlings it produces, which can easily wash downstream. The tree also can literally grow through concrete cracks. Controlling SLF invasion has meant getting rid of tree of heaven, stomping on the bugs to kill them, and also other biological control methods, including fungi.
That’s a really long answer, sorry, but hopefully it explains some of what happens when a plant or insect gets out of where it evolved alongside other things, and enters a new environment.
I’ve seen many marmorated bugs and, since I moved, several Asian ladybugs in the kitchen (only in the kitchen, and why they still appear in the winter I don’t know). I’ve seen a dead Halyomorpha halys in the web of a native spider (Argiope aurantia). I haven’t yet seen a jorō spider, but hopefully I will this year; at least one has been observed in Mill Spring.
I saw an ailanto at the post office and told the postal clerk that it’s a first-class invasive in North Carolina and is in cahoots with the spotted lanternfly. As of the last time I went there (a few days ago to mail two plats to the plat contest), it’s still there.
I’ve observed a Chinese privet, which was destroyed, not because it’s invasive, but because it was in the way of building a house. They trashed all the shrubbery next to the fence, even though I sited the driveway to align with the existing dirt driveway and the shrubbery.
ETA: I’ve also seen a Chinese mantis.
ETA: I’ve seen lots of Chinese bushclover. Seeing an ob of some Lespedeza species while identifying reminded me.
Is the kitchen the warmest/sunniest place in your house/apartment? They both love sun and heat.
Some of the birds have caught on to the stinkbugs finally as a food source, but ugh, when they first exploded in population it was awful. I remember getting this contraption called a Bugzooka so I could suck them into the device and then dump them all into the toilet to flush. The worst though is when you accidentally suck one into the vacuum cleaner. ![]()
The beetles I’ve seen only in the kitchen, which is the coldest room at this time of year, as the house has split AC, and there’s no AC in the kitchen. They’ve all been close to the window. The bugs I’ve seen in the kitchen and in the bedroom.