Just watched a kite video about this, but lantern flies are the bane of my existence now just by HEARING about what they do.
To make a long story short, lantern flies are an invasive species and, like penguins, can not fly that far, so they hitchhike.
To watch for them, these are the signs:
They will lay eggs on tree bark and it will literally look like a patch of mud, they also will lay eggs on cars as well, and will literally hitchhike on the back of a suitcase or someone’s clothing.
If you see any suspicious mud on your car, trees, lawnmower, bikes, grills, or really anything that looks solid enough to hold eggs: smash the living heck of that and then scrape it off. But do make sure to check your trunk and as well as any of your clothing or even the inside of your car, literally check everywhere. Lantern flies are slowly spreading, and much like the cane toad, will NOT leave no matter how much you try to get them to. The affected states are currently 14 which are:
Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, and West Virginia.
But why do we care? Well, because lantern flies usually feed on a tree called “tree of heaven” but they are mostly known for feeding on really anything like crops and plants, and grapes, apples, hops, walnuts, and hardwood trees. This can damage food source and nature a LOT as you know.
But to know more about these little nasty freaks, here are two links, both very safe. One of them is the link to the Kwite video that inspired this message and the other link is to a website (dot gov) which contains everything you need to know to prepare for lantern flies, what to do, and what YOU can do to keep them out.
https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/resources/pests-diseases/hungry-pests/the-threat/spotted-lanternfly/spotted-lanternfly
https://youtu.be/S1nuhH6OEbA?si=zNn8DDQQ4CVNQbq2