Submitted by HoneyAndMyco t3_10nf937 in Pennsylvania
Hello all. As I’m sure you’re all aware the spotted lanternfly is an extremely invasive species of planthopper insects that are wreaking havoc on a bunch of profitable and important plant species. I work for a lab that is attempting to rear them in captivity for lab experimentation.
This far we’ve had some luck, (we have had them oviposit, hatch and turn to 2nd instar all in the lab) but we still haven’t quite i the full lifecycle yet, we’ll need to collect a lot of egg masses in the wild first to get large numbers of nymphs all at once to achieve a self sustaining colony.
I’m happy to provide the mods with proof of any of this and also that I have every possible permit from state and federal governments to do this, as again it’s an invasive species.
I’m in NY and I’ve had some success collecting out here but if you guys know of any spots in PA with large amount of egg masses please DM me with a location or post it in the comments. You will literally be helping to stop SLF destruction and helping to contribute to our understanding of them.
Sea-Operation7215 t1_j68cu8d wrote
The allegheny river trail in Pittsburgh had tons of lantern flies this past season between the 16th street bridge and the Rachel carson bridge. I assume there are hundreds of egg sacks in the trees there now, based on my number of daily kills and the train tracks nearby.