Are you seeing spotted lanternflies in your area of the state?
I'm seeing a lot of them - almost every day - and I'm in the city limits of Pittsburgh. It must be a lot worse in the rural and suburban areas. Now that it's mid-to-late July the spotted lanternflies (SLF) have grown out of larva and pupa stages. They're actually easy to see, if you're looking for them.
In this informational flyer from the USDA I've inserted the arrow to show the stage they're in now. (red arrow)
I must say that a couple weeks ago (early July) they didn't look like this. They looked like little red ladybugs that crawled around like beetles or spiders. They had no wings, they had a red dome body with white spots. They hopped like grasshoppers, because they couldn't fly yet. I didn't realize that I was looking at SLF because they were so small and had no wings.
In two weeks' time they grew into the pointy-head shape they have now, and they're still very small. But they clearly aren't ladybugs. I've tried to stomp the ones I can get to, but it's not easy. They jump and hop around like crazy. These SLFs don't sting or bite, they don't really attack humans at all. It's the damage they do to crops that we need to worry about. They can damage or even kill fruit trees in one season by sucking the tree sap. They're terrible for grapevines for the same reason.
From the USDA: Don't mistake these helpful insects for Spotted Lanternflies:
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They're hard to stomp because they never hold still long enough.
The biggest problem is that the SLF have no natural enemies here. Birds don't eat them, and way too many eggs are surviving our mild winters. Like the stinkbugs, these things came from China.
I don't think they're flying yet, so we don't recognize them as hopping insects.
As I said in my OP, the bugs I saw at the beginning of July looked like ladybugs, only they had white spots on the red dome-shaped bodies. I thought they were different-looking ladybugs. But it turned out they were spotted lanternflies, and eventually they grew into the pointy-head shapes they are now.
I see them almost everyday while I'm out walking my dog. I'm trying to stomp them, but it isn't easy.
