SPREAD TO 17 AMERICAN STATES
In the US, lanternflies have spread to 17 states.
In Pennsylvania alone, they could drain the economy of at least US$324 million annually. Quarantine requirements have also caused bureaucracy headaches and increased costs for growers.
Most of the state’s counties are currently in a quarantine zone, which means transportation-based businesses must obtain a special permit requiring their staff to be trained to spot lanternflies, so the adult insects and their eggs are not inadvertently transported elsewhere.
First detected in the US a decade ago in Pennsylvania, spotted lanternflies were likely transported from China on imported stone, with their eggs disguised as a smear of mud.
They quickly spread by hitchhiking across the country on trucks, cars, train wheels and even backpacks.
Research shows that lanternflies that have made it to America are much hardier than their native peers in China.
“The big fear is that they could spread to the West Coast, where the grape growing region is hugely economically important, in the billions of dollars,” said entomology professor Kelli Hoover from Pennsylvania State University.
“We’re talking (about) California, Oregon, Washington… they have already started preparing for how to deal with that.”
Source: CNA
