Invasive lanternfly lands in Michigan for the second time in two years

MONROE COUNTY, MI — Two years after it first appeared in Michigan, an invasive pest that prefers to feast on the vines of fruit crops has been discovered near the Ohio border.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed that an infestation discovered on June 14 in the community of Lambertville in Monroe County is the second occurrence of live spotted lanternflies in the state.

The invasive leafhopper, native to East Asia, was caught in surveillance traps at Michigan State University.

Lambertville is a community in Bedford Township bordering Toledo, Ohio, where many lanternflies have been found.

“Toledo is now full of spotted lanternflies, and we’re not very far north of the Ohio border,” said Deborah McCullough, a professor of forest entomology at Michigan State University (MSU) who leads a lanternfly monitoring program.

“These things aren’t big flyers, but they can fly and spread on vehicles and all kinds of other things,” she said. “So no big surprise.”

The discovery in Lambertville follows Michigan’s first encounter with the lanternfly, which was found in Pontiac in August 2022 and was confined to a small plot of land near the wastewater treatment plant where an invasive sumac plant that likes lanternflies was growing.

Lanternflies suck sap from a tree’s vascular system and secrete honeydew, a sticky liquid that collects on the ground and forms sooty mold that can discolor and kill plants.

Lanternflies feed on a variety of plants, including grapes and trees such as black walnut, river birch, willow, sumac, and red maple. They are particularly fond of tree of heaven, a type of invasive sumac that is often found along roads and parking lots.

The beetles are considered a threat to important agricultural crops in Michigan such as grapes, apples and peaches.

Michigan has issued warnings about a possible increased occurrence of lanternflies after reports of infestations spread across the eastern states and dead lanternflies were found in several locations in November 2020.

Government authorities urged residents to crush the bugs.

Rob Miller, an invasive species specialist with the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD), said containment efforts in Pontiac have been successful, “and we have not been able to detect the beetles since 2022.”

In Lambertville, MDARD plans to survey the area next week. In early summer, young lanternflies resemble small, wingless black or red beetles with white spots. Adults, with brownish outer wings and black spots over bright red inner wings, emerge in late summer and early fall.

Five young animals were caught in the MSU’s circular trap, he said.

“Based on trappings and reports from this area, it appears to be a small infestation, but we need to do an organized investigation,” Miller said.

McCullough would not specify where the Lambertville traps were set, referring to MDARD for location disclosure. Miller would not say where the infestation was found, other than to say it was “near private property,” referring to the agency’s communications staff. MDARD spokeswoman Jennifer Holton did not return calls Monday.

McCullough said the infestation is “just east of Lambertville” on a property full of invasive shrubs and poison ivy.

Other officials said Monday it was in a cemetery.

In the United States, lanternflies were first discovered in southeastern Pennsylvania in 2014. Since then, they have spread to Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia.

McCullough said the MSU surveillance program is working with regulators and universities in Ohio and Indiana, both states where infestations have occurred recently.

In Indiana, lanternfly infestations were observed last fall in Elkhart, Porter and St. Joseph counties. All three counties are located near or along the Michigan border.

Michigan has not yet implemented quarantine measures for the spotted lanternfly that would restrict the movement of certain plant species and plants from gardening and landscaping operations.

Traps were set in Lambertville because agriculture officials “thought they had seen adult birds flying around the area last year, but were unable to catch any or find masses of eights,” McCullough said.

In Toledo, cases are “still pretty localized,” she said. “It’s not clear everywhere in the city. It’s still pretty patchy.”

Still, she said, “I think the train has left the station” on eradication efforts in Toledo. In Michigan, “I think it’s still an option, but somebody has to pay for it.”

“We’ll be watching throughout the summer to see where new cases emerge. And then I think we’ll look at that closely and decide whether it makes sense to eradicate the disease or perhaps contain it,” she said.

People are encouraged to check their vehicles for eggs or insects before leaving a parking lot or construction site. Live insects should be squashed. Egg masses should be scraped into a plastic bag and covered with hand sanitizer or rubbing alcohol.

Anyone who finds a clutch of Spotted Lanternfly (nymph or adult) should take several photos, note the date, time and location of the sighting and report the sighting online.

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