By Hannah Harris

Spotted lanternflies are not leaving the University of Maryland campus or the surrounding College Park area anytime soon, according to professors from the university’s Department of Entomology. 

The spotted lanternfly is an invasive planthopper pest native to parts of eastern Asia, according to the Maryland Department of Agriculture. 

Invasive pests are not native to the area they inhabit, Professor Emeritus of the Entomology Department Michael Raupp said in an interview on Wednesday. 

“The big problem with invasive species is the fact that very often once they arrive here in the United States, they can cause major disruption to our natural or native ecosystems,” Raupp said. “When they first arrive here, there may not be a complement of what we call natural enemies.” 

The University of Maryland Extension Home and Garden information center recommended that community members leave the pest for animals to eat, avoid potentially harmful home remedies or remove the bug with water to control populations. 

When asked whether stepping on the insect is a sound method to stop population spread, Raupp explained its lack of effectiveness.

“Don’t do it with the mistaken belief that you’ve actually changed the population dynamic of this,” Raupp said. 

He suggested that the university completely remove the tree of heaven — a preferred plant of the spotted lanternfly — from campus to reduce the bug’s population.

“They will basically go to a vertical surface that looks like a tree, which could be a column on McKeldin, or a column on the Iribe building and they just climb up it until they figure out it’s really not a tree of heaven,” Raupp said. 

A stone shipment sent to Berks County, Pennsylvania, brought the bug to the United States in 2014, according to the National Park Service. 

The spotted lanternfly spread to Cecil County, Maryland, in 2018 and populations have spread through the Mid-Atlantic, according to the National Park Service. 

“I think they’re really annoying … but I guess it’s part of nature,” junior mechanical engineering major Priya Nayak said. Junior marketing major Farah Mikdashi shared similar thoughts. 

“Honestly, at first, I was very disturbed by them, but now I’m kind of used to them,” Mikdashi said. 

Aside from being a nuisance, these bugs can be an indirect hazard to student safety. Spotted lanternflies excrete a sweet and sticky substance that causes a type of fungus to grow, attracting stinging insects, said entomology professor Bill Lamp.

“So now you’ve got a threat. People that are allergic to bees or wasps or yellow jackets or hornets … this does pose a risk,” Raupp said.

Spotted lanternflies do not directly harm humans, but they can disrupt Maryland’s crops, according to an article from University of Maryland Extension.

The bug, “feeds on plant sap from a wide range of plants including grapes, hops, apples, stone fruits, maples, walnuts, and other plant species,” and has killed grape crops, according to the same article from University of Maryland Extension.

Raupp said that in the end, “it’s really gonna be mother nature’s hit squad — the natural enemies, the predators and parasitoids — that put the beatdown on the spotted lanternfly.”

Featured Image: A view of open green space from beneath tree cover on campus. Photo from SBS media library