Thoughts on and life history of the Spotted Lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula, near my home in northern Berks County, PA.

Thoughts on and life history of the Spotted Lanternfly, Lycorma
delicatula, near my home in northern Berks County, PA.
Northeastern Natural History Conference
Spring 2021
Richard Gardner
rtgardner3@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT
This is a summation of several years of field research on the
Spotted Lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula, near my home in
northern Berks County, PA. It starts with my thoughts, concluding
with a complete life history from the 2019 field season.
My conclusions about the SLF are that it is unstoppable and is
neither an agricultural nor a forest Armageddon. The only plants
of real concern in both cases are Vitus sp., wild and domestic
grapes.

This research is the results of three field seasons, 2017, 2018
and 2019. I focused on where we live in northern Berks County,
PA, on the northern edge of the spread of Lycorma delicatula,
the Spotted Lanternfly (SLF). For me this was an ideal or
nightmare situation in that it is cutting edge research on a
highly invasive newly introduced non-native insect which is
literally in my backyard.

The 2020 field season did not exist for me as my energy was
spent on trying to survive Covid-19 in the midst of a
deliberately inept, corrupt and malevolent government which
caused a deadly disease to attack the fabric of our society.

The most diabolical part of being an ecologist, especially an
invasive species ecologist studying an organism like the SLF is
that the research is everywhere I am whenever I am outside,
including my backyard. For 16 months my camera was seldom
far from my hand when hiking or at home.

I did most of my research in the following locations:
1.) my backyard just south of Shartlesville, Berks County, PA
2.) a stand of Ailanthus altissima trees in Shartlesville
3.) Blue Marsh Lake, Berks County, PA on the uphill end of Landis
and Highland Roads to Sterner Hill Road
4.) Blue Marsh Lake, ½ mile on each side of mile 19 of the loop trail
5.) the Appalachian Trail (AT) on the border of Berks and Schuylkill
counties just “south” of where it crosses Rt. 183.

Other research areas were around mile 4.5 along Blue Marsh
Lake which is where I saw the first nymphs emerging, SGL110
in two locations near Shartlesville, Peacock Road along Blue
Marsh Lake and random locations I happened to be at.
During this field season I talked with two wineries, and
purchased their wines, two farm markets selling tree fruit and
numerous other people. The wine helped.

The fascinating part of having research sites in different locations
with varying ecological conditions such as amount of sunlight on
egg masses and 1000 feet difference in altitude is watching the
eggs hatch and nymphs mature at different times. There were
about two weeks between the first eggs hatching at Blue Marsh
Lake and the first of three egg sets hatching on top of Blue
Mountain along the AT south of Rt. 183.

I was fortunate to see gypsy moth larvae (Lymantria dispar)
emerging from eggs close to SLF egg masses near the AT south of
Rt. 183. This gave me a comparison between a known organism
and an unknown one. Gypsy moths are an interesting contrast to
SLF in that they are a real threat to forests from urban areas to
wild areas, not an ephemeral one.

I feel that at least $200,000,000 will be wasted on SLF research
and quarantines. My expectation is that Penn State University
will waste at least $100,000,000 on this organism. After this
issue solves itself Penn State will proudly take credit for
something which they had no part in resolving.
Beyond the money wasted, the fear SLF engendered, with
Penn State’s help, will further poison the landscape with
needless insecticides and herbicides. I heard concerns that the
honey of local bees may be contaminated with insecticides due
SLF panic. If so, this will be a huge blow to local agriculture.

The biggest and most obvious mistake Penn State researchers
have made is that it is wrongly assumed any substrate an egg
mass is laid on is a food source. If that were true, iron fence
posts would be a food source.
The opposite is true. Egg masses are very often laid around or
near a food source, not necessarily on one.
Ailanthus
tree
egg mass on an iron fence post
egg mass on a chestnut oak
egg mass on a box elder
egg mass on a chestnut oak
egg mass on a box elder

I do not even remotely see a need for biocontrols. If the pattern
of exponential growth and exponential decline which we are
seeing in Berks County is consistent throughout SLF expansion,
an introduced biocontrol will do little if any good. The
possibilities and probabilities for environmental harm are too
great at this time to at any logical level consider introducing
another organism which will have unpredictable short-term and
long-term effects on the ecosystems SLF spreads to. There are
simply too many variables to introduce yet another non-native
organism into ecosystems already flooded with non-native
organisms.

Periodicity is the one question I still have. It is a long-term
issue which cannot be determined in one or several years.

Gaussian curve illustrating the ideal situation with a non-native
organism invasion.
introduction and lag time
exponential population growth
peak
population decline
extinction

The most probable situation with a non-native organism invasion,
dynamic equilibrium.
introduction and lag time
exponential population growth
peak
dynamic equilibrium

The spread of SLF from my observations is unstoppable. The
most likely scenario is that after local population explosions
the SLF will become indigenous with a low-level background
presence throughout North America like many other invasive
non-native organisms.

Gypsy moth, AT Rt. 183 south, April 19, 2019. These eggs hatched about 7-
8 weeks before the first SLF eggs hatched at this location.

Mile 4.5 Blue Marsh Lake, Ailanthus altissima, May 21, 2019. It took about 3 days for an entire
SLF egg mass to hatch. Nymphs apparently hatched during the night or early morning. They
were translucent to white colored immediately after hatching. Sometime in the next day or two
they changed to black with white spots.

Mile 4.5 Blue Marsh Lake, May 24, 2019. Notice the unique angle of the body. This angle
remains from hatching through adulthood.

These nymphs hatched from eggs on a cedar
tree on Sterner Hill Road a couple hundred
yards from Highland Road. May 24, 2019

Shartlesville research site, Ailanthus altissima stand, May 25, 2019

The egg mass next to SLF nymphs is the Spined Soldier Bug, Podisus maculiventris. I found egg
masses of this insect often near SLF egg masses on a walk in Blue Marsh Lake during the fall of
2018. This photo is from the site in Shartlesville I photographed over the last two years.
May 25, 2019

Newly hatched Spined Soldier Bug nymphs, Podisus
maculiventris near recently hatched SLF nymphs. I
was told by a professor from Kutztown University
that this insect eats SLF. Shartlesville, May 26, 2019

Spined Soldier Bug nymphs, Podisus maculiventris,
near recently hatched SLF nymphs.
Shartlesville, May 26, 2019

Highland Road, Blue Marsh
Lake, Ailanthus altissima,
May 30, 2019

Highland Road, Blue Marsh Lake, May 30, 2019

AT Rt. 183 south, June 5, 2019

Highland Road, Blue Marsh Lake, June 11, 2019

home, Vitis sp., June 18, 2019

Highland Road, Juglans nigra, Blue Marsh Lake,
June 25, 2019

Landis and Highland Roads, Blue Marsh Lake, July 10, 2019

home, Vitis sp.,
July 22, 2019

Landis and Highland
Roads, Blue Marsh Lake,
July 30, 2019

Landis and Highland Roads, Blue Marsh Lake,
July 30, 2019. My observations are that not all the
adult SLF in this photo will reproduce.

Highland and Sterner Hill Roads, Blue Marsh Lake, Ailanthus altissima, August 6, 2019

SGL 110-10 near the AT, north of 100 steps,
Ailanthus altissima, August 11, 2019

Landis Road, Blue Marsh Lake, August 12, 2019

Landis and Highland Roads, Blue Marsh Lake, August 15, 2019

Landis and Highland Roads, Blue Marsh Lake,
August 15, 2019

Atteva aurea (the Ailanthus webworm), eggs, larvae and pupa on Ailanthus
altissima. Landis and Highland Roads, Blue Marsh Lake, August 26, 2019

Sleepy Hollow Road, Blue Marsh Lake, Sept. 6, 2019

Landis and Highland Roads, Blue Marsh Lake, Sept. 17, 2019

Mile 13, Blue Marsh Lake, Vitis sp., Sept. 24, 2019

Mile 19, Blue Marsh Lake, Oct. 7, 2019

AT Rt. 183 south, Oct. 29, 2019

My conclusions about the SLF are that it
is unstoppable and is neither an
agricultural nor a forest Armageddon.
The only plants of real concern in both
cases are Vitus sp., wild and domestic
grapes.

Unless something unexpected happens, I am mostly finished
studying the SLF. This coming field season and for the
foreseeable future I plan to study pollinators on non-native
plants and similar natives.
I appreciate walking partners and would enjoy having another
set of eyes anytime anyone wants to join me.
I can be reached at rtgardner3@yahoo.com.

Thoughts on and life history of the Spotted Lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula, near my home in northern Berks County, PA.

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Thoughts on and life history of the Spotted Lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula, near my home in northern Berks County, PA.