Spotted lanternfly researcher here need egg mass locations.

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 achieved 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 NJ 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.

Comments

Longjumping_Cream_45 t1_j68ipx2 wrote on January 28, 2023 at 2:35 PM

#1,552,926

Allaire state park- if you go towards Allaire Village from the parking lot, there is a path that cuts right near the fishing pond. There are numerous trees of heaven there, in the first 100 yards of the path, that had tons of lanternflies in the summer and fall. Haven't been back to search out egg sacks, though. Same for Jackson Premium Outlets- the place is infested with lantern flies.

lionheartcollective t1_j68jxsi wrote on January 28, 2023 at 2:45 PM

#1,553,181

Rowan Fossil Park in Mantua NJ is loaded with lantern flies. I would see full trees covered with them.

stephenclarkg t1_j68o194 wrote on January 28, 2023 at 3:16 PM

#1,553,892

Come to Newark lots of trees of heaven

MundaneBreakfast3143 t1_j68qmgu wrote on January 28, 2023 at 3:35 PM

#1,554,378

Goldman Sachs building, at 30 Hudson Street, Jersey City, had swams of them on the surrounding grounds in fall. Please check nearby trees of heaven.

structuremonkey t1_j68qyuw wrote on January 28, 2023 at 3:38 PM

#1,554,429

Haven't specifically seen egg masses, but was at Rutgers University, Livingston campus in New Brunswick last fall, and there were literal millions of the slf's on site. I'm sure within 10 minutes of looking around there, you will find plenty of eggs...

JSFireguy t1_j68virk wrote on January 28, 2023 at 4:10 PM

#1,555,243

I was at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson and the place was crawling with them this season. One place we noticed a high concentration was the parachute tower base. But they were all over the park.