Winged pest spotted in the state poses threat

GREENWICH — A very unwanted visitor has turned up in town.

The spotted lanternfly, a plant- hopping bug that damages trees and other vegetation, has been found on multiple occasions in Greenwich this fall. An insect trap caught one of the winged pests last weekend at Riversville and Porchuk roads, according to the town parks department. Other adult spotted lanternflies were found in September.

State conservation authorities say the invasive insect, which arrived from Asia sometime in 2014, poses a threat to local agriculture. The brightly colored bug could severely impact Connecticut’s farm crops, particularly apples and grapes, as well as trees, including the maple.

“The impact on the agricultural industry of Connecticut could be devastating,” according to a recent statement from the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station on the spotted lanternfly.

The insect is quite colorful, about an inch long and a half- inch wide, or the size of your thumb, with large wings. The abdomen is yellow with broad black bands, and the lower wings are bright red.

Its arrival in Greenwich did not come as a surprise. “It is knocking at our door,” said JoAnn Messina, executive director of the Greenwich Tree Conservancy.

“We’ve been anticipating this,” town Tree Warden Gregory Kramer said.

Spotted lanterflies have also been found in other parts of Connecticut, most recently in East Haven, New Canaan and Stamford, and they have been proliferating across the Northeast for the past six years, experts said.

“They’re a threat to agriculture and forest ecosystems,” said Kramer.

“For growers, they’re certainly a threat to apple and cherries, and they love grapes. Oak trees and maple trees are a host.”

The insects also create an unsightly mold on trees, in addition to damaging the fruit. “The mold, the mildew, it’s more or less cosmetic, but it’s not pleasant,” the tree warden said.

Local nurseries and homeowners who acquire trees from Pennsylvania, which has a large horticulture industry, should inspect any shipments carefully. Pennsylvania and the mid- Atlantic region has been “ground zero” for the spotted lanternfly outbreak, Kramer said.

Also, local residents can help limit the spread of the pest by cutting down ailanthus trees, also known as the tree of heaven, which originate from Asia. “It’s the preferred host,” Kramer said of the tall spindly trees that bear a resemblance to palm trees.

In an unusual relationship between the spotted lanternfly and the ailanthus, the invasive bug absorbs a toxic chemical secreted by that tree. “It makes it somewhat poisonous and distasteful to predators,” Kramer said, so birds that normally eat the insect leave it alone.

“If we eliminate the ailanthus tree, we reduce the reproductive rate of the insect, and predators learn that it is not necessarily distasteful to eat,” he said.

The town’s parks department is making a special effort to eliminate ailanthus trees, a persistent and hardy tree that grows rapidly.

The arrival of an invasive species entering a new ecosystem often follows a familiar pattern — a population explosion, then a decline, Kramer said. That was the scenario that conservation managers are hoping will take place with the spotted lanternfly — a big spike in numbers, followed by a drop- off.

“It just become just part of the environment, and not much of an issue,” he said, “That’s the hope. Who knows how steep up it goes, and how slow it goes down.”

So far, the arrival of the insect has not caused major damage in the area. Adult spotted lanternflies were detected in Farmington in 2018 and in Southbury in 2019. In Greenwich, the insect appears to be clustering in the north end of town. The insect was first detected in the U. S. in Berks County, Pa., in September 2014.