SOUTH HADLEY — While lounging under a tree at Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter School, middle school student Addison Gosselin felt the tickle of a critter crawling on her leg.

Gosselin ushered the little bug onto her hand, and immediately recognized the spotted pattern on the insect’s wings and the bright red hindwings from videos she had seen on TikTok. She snapped a photo of the bug and sent it to her mom, Jamie Boileau, accompanied by the message “invasive spotted lanternfly.”

While Gosselin’s previous deep dive into the spotted lanternfly clued her into the damage the invasive species brings to over 100 plant species, Boileau had never heard nor seen the pest until she saw her daughter’s photo.

“If it had fallen on me, I would not have known what it was,” Boileau said. “I wanted to let people know what it was.”

According to the Invasive Pest Dashboard of the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, the spotted lanternfly has moved into Springfield, West Springfield, Wilbraham, Ludlow, Chicopee and Holyoke, including parts of Mount Tom State Reservation that border South Hadley and Easthampton. These pests pierce trees and fruits with their mouths and suck out the sugary sap and juices, then further damage the plants by excreting a sugary discharge called honeydew that creates mold on leaves and trunks.

Crops destroyed

First found in the United States in Pennsylvania in 2014, UMass Extension Entomologist Tawny Simisky said the spotted lanternfly has destroyed acres and acres of agricultural crops, particularly grapes. The insect also feeds on apples, hops and native trees across the eastern United States. The fly, which is indigenous to Vietnam and China, has been confirmed in 16 U.S. states.

The invasive species’s threat to Hampshire County’s breweries, wineries and orchards is currently minimal, according to the maps on the Invasive Pest Dashboard, as the fly has yet to spread widely throughout the area. But with the potential damage to the area’s farms, agrotourism and autumn apple picking, farmers and state entomologists are keeping a close eye on the species, eliminating eggs and adults when they can, and encouraging residents to document any sightings of the spotted insect.

“Although we’ve had a quite lengthy list of communities be added to those that have established breeding populations of spotted lanternfly in Massachusetts this year, it is not in every county in the state, and it’s certainly not in every community within the state,” Simisky said. “We’re not certain that every square inch of that city or town is infested at this point, so we’re still trying to learn more about exactly where spotted lanternfly is in Massachusetts.”

The commonwealth has previously seen devastating impacts of invasive spongy moth, formerly known as the gypsy moth, and emerald ash borer on native trees, but these pests differ from the spotted lanternfly in that the spongy moth caterpillar eats tree leaves at a voracious rate, while the emerald ash borer eats away at the wood of the tree, damaging the tissues that transport water and nutrients throughout the organism, while the lanternfly sucks out plant nutrients.

The level of damage, Simisky said, depends entirely on the plant species attacked by the lanternfly.

“When it comes to things like grapevines that you find in vineyards, which are a really important agricultural crop in the United States, the impact of spotted lanternfly feeding them is really severe,” Simisky said. “We know this because in Pennsylvania, they’ve lost acres and acres of grape production due to spotted lanternfly infestations.”

Learning from others

Larry Godard, owner of Mineral Hills Winery in Northampton, has spoken to a few of these Pennsylvanian grape farmers at Massachusetts Fruit Growers Association events, so he’s been aware of the spotted lanternfly for several years now.

Mineral Hills is a 3-acre farm that grows apples, grapes and blueberries to make 16 types of wine, and also sources grapes from local farms including Makana Farms in Williamsburg and Goats Peak Farm in Easthampton.

While the invasive fly entered Massachusetts in 2021, Godard notes it’s not new to the United States, and other states with experience fighting the pest are sharing their experiences with Massachusetts farmers.

“I’m concerned, but I’m not overly concerned because of the experience they have south of us in Pennsylvania,” Godard said. “There are some materials (traps and insecticides) and some that maybe we’re already using that may address this.”

Mineral Hills is hard at work dealing with a different invasive insect, a type of fruit fly called spotted wing drosophila, that requires similar management tactics to the spotted lanternfly. Godard said that USDA, MDAR and UMass have visited the farm over the past couple years to survey the area for the two invasive insects. Even with the looming problem, he trusts that state and federal experts will provide management tools if the spotted lanternfly appears in the fields.

“It’s always something new every few years. It’s not every year, but every few years is a new invasive,” Godard said. “UMass extension services and USDA, they’re pretty on top of it. They were trapping and asked permission to trap at three vineyards we manage here. I feel confident they’re on top of what’s going on.”

Action from residents

Outside of the vineyards and orchards, people are most likely to find spotted lanternflies on their preferred host plant, another invasive species, the tree of heaven, also native to China and invasive elsewhere. There is a correlation between the invasive tree’s presence and the growth of the spotted lanternfly population. Simisky believes having the bug’s favorite tree in the area aids the spotted lanternfly’s success in the United States.

“It has recently been discovered that the spotted lanternfly does not require tree of heaven in order to complete its life cycle,” she said. “However, they do better when they have tree of heaven to feed on.”

This invasive insect breeds in late August and early September, leaving gray crusty clumps of egg masses on any flat surface, from cars and RVs to playground equipment and lawn furniture. Residents can also see the honeydew of this species during this period, which appears as a light mist in the tree canopy.

“Spotted lanternfly is a really good hitchhiker,” Simisky said. “When we move these items that have spotted lanternfly egg masses on them and leave them in a new location, the eggs are able to either overwinter or hatch at the appropriate time in the season, and that’s a possible means of introducing a population into a new area.”

If a resident finds any spotted lanternfly or its eggs, Simisky requests that people first report the sighting by taking a photo and submitting it to MDAR before squashing the insect.

“You can press down on those eggs as you scrape them and listen for a popping sound as you crush them,” Simisky said. “You can also physically remove nymphs and adults and squish them, if you’re seeing those as well.”

Residents who find a large infestation of spotted lanternflies on their property can use nonchemical controls, like sticky traps, to capture unwanted bugs. Only if a resident lives in an area of Massachusetts where the spotted lanternfly is currently known to be established and the insect has been identified on their property through monitoring, Simisky said, should homeowners call an arborist or landscaper to determine if chemical management options are necessary.

For more information on the spotted lanternfly, visit UMass Extension’s Professional Insect & Mite Management Guide for Woody Plants or MDAR’s spotted lanternfly FAQ.