By Macklin Monaghan | Staff Writer

The rains have arrived once again — warmth brings the people of the Northside out of their homes; however, people are not the only ones emerging.

The season of the spotted lanternfly is upon the Northside, and the dilemma is larger than ever.

The spotted lanternfly is an Asian species of bug that formally infested America in 2014, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. Since then it has spread across the north and south, prominently appearing in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service.

The lanternfly is a short term pest for most of the year, predominantly surviving throughout spring and summer. However, this may not be the case forever. The spotted lanternfly seems to enjoy the United States; according to a 2024 NYU research paper titled “Spotted Lanternflies in the US Are Living Longer — and Cities May be Helping Them Spread,” the American variant increases in life span every year, further claiming the cause of this to be the environment of urban settings.

Urban environments like cities invite lanternflies into their streets — the warmth and lack of biodiversity serves as a suitable habitat for a bug that mostly survives in a tropical climate with native predators, NYU researchers explained.

This adaptation raises concern with naturalists, such as Pittsburgh Park Ranger Erica Heide.

According to Heide, while these spotted lantern flies may seem rather benign in urban environments, their appetite for plants such as grapevines and other agriculture have proven to be a great dilemma for rural parts of Pennsylvania, where agriculture makes up a large percent of the economy.

This is exemplified by Penn State’s Extension research department.

According to Penn State Extension researchers, this is not just a battle for quality of life, but the economic geography of Pennsylvania. The spotted lanternfly diet prominently consists of cash crops produced in Pennsylvania, such as grape vines, maple trees, and others. According to Penn State Extension, if these bugs are not contained over a longer period, a minimum of 324 million dollars will be lost from Pennsylvania’s annual economy.

Lanternfly egg masses consist of roughly 40 to 60 eggs, with each lanternfly laying one or two egg masses per season. Once lanternflies reach the “nymph” stage, they are much harder to kill, which continues as they transcend into adulthood. Heide said that “killing 40 to 60 adults is going to take way longer than an egg mass” citing the importance of mechanical removal of these egg masses before the season arrives.

Heide explained how park rangers combat this infestation, saying that most preparation actually occurs in the off season. Park Rangers host events in the winter called smash and trashes, where participants collect trash in the woods while keeping an eye out for spotted lanternfly eggs. Rangers also instruct people on how to identify egg masses, and the proper way to destroy them.

Heide explained that through this, volunteers are able to greatly reduce the local population of that season.

However, for residents of the Northside who may want to take matters into their own hands, Heide has a message.

She said that each year people tend to set traps in order to catch these bugs in their own yards, but these traps can actually harm more than they help in some cases.

Heide advocates that people invest in “circle traps” which use nonstick elements and purely trap the bug. Using traps with a sticky effect often entangles non-targeted animals, such as small birds and other species, which are often predators of the spotted lanternfly. This disrupts the natural process of handling the infestation, which backfires on the strategy used by environmental scientists, Heide explains.

Each year, groups of this bug migrate further north, into climates that were predicted to be too cold for them to exist, according to NYU researchers.

However, in states where they originated, the population has declined exponentially.

While many believe this to be due to efforts to remove them, NYU researchers explained it actually exemplifies the naturalization into the environment, balancing into a long-term species as predators realize their existence.

The spikes seen in prior years of this pest-like bug may not reach such prominence again. However, according to research studies from universities such as Penn State and NYU, along with local park rangers, it would seem within the Northside, and greater Pittsburgh region, the spotted lanternfly is here to stay.