The spotted lanternfly made a surprise appearance at the Kansas State Fair.
The invasive insect that has become notorious on the East Coast, especially across Pennsylvania, was discovered in a 4-H entomology entry that fair officials were judging last week, The Associated Press reported.
Fair board member Gregg Hadley said the student who caught the spotted lanternfly correctly identified it but had no clue it had already prompted quarantines in 34 Pennsylvania counties and another 13 in New Jersey. It was first discovered in Berks County in 2014 and was officially identified in New Jersey four years later.
Hadley is the director of Kansas State’s Research and Extension office. He said it’s not clear how the invasive bug made it to Kansas but it might have hitched a ride on a camper. That is the most vexing part of the lanternfly, that it can travel long distances once it attaches itself to vehicles or other outdoor equipment. When the lanternfly takes a ride, it brings along its egg masses to populate the area where it eventually jumps off.
Besides becoming a nuisance as it grows into an adult during the summer months and starts swarming residents’ yards, it offers a significant economic threat to several industries.
According to the Pa Department of Agriculture website, the spotted lanternfly not only damages trees and affects residents’ quality of life but “has become a major threat to the Pennsylvania agriculture industry and offers the same risk to other states as it spreads.” The economic impact, the Pa. Department of Agriculture says, could total in the hundreds of millions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of jobs for those in the grape, apple, hops, and hardwood industries. It already has wiped out or severely damaged several Pennsylvania vineyards.
The spotted lanternfly is a pest that’s being watched closely by the U.S. wine industry clear out to the West Coast. The California Department of Food and Agriculture has several pages devoted to the potential risks of the spotted lanternfly, including this one. The Capital Press, which covers the agriculture industry in and around California, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, reported in a July 26 story that California has established a quarantine aimed at prohibiting the lanternfly’s host plants from entering the state.
One of the Kansas State Fair’s entomology judges was familiar with the spotted lanternfly, according to a story in the Hutchinson News, and the requirement to report it to the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
Now that agency will conduct an investigation, trying to figure out how it traveled more than 1,000 miles from where it already has caused so much destruction, the story said.
As for the exhibit, the story noted, the student and his exhibit passed muster. It was allowed to be entered since the spotted lanternfly was dead.
More:
Harvest Moon falls in summer this year. Is that unusual?
"entry" - Google News
September 13, 2021 at 05:15AM
https://ift.tt/3hsAXUW
Spotted lanternfly makes its way into a 4-H entry in Kansas, setting off a federal inquiry - PennLive
"entry" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3f5ZAUJ
https://ift.tt/3d6LMHD
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Spotted lanternfly makes its way into a 4-H entry in Kansas, setting off a federal inquiry - PennLive"
Post a Comment