New Study Refines Range of Spotted Lanternfly

As reported in Entomology Today, a study published in September in Environmental Entomology, a two-year project conducted by a team of Penn State University scientists provides strong evidence to support predictions that the spotted lanternfly’s potential spread will be limited by increasing altitude and latitude, saving places like the Appalachians of North Carolina and Green Mountains of Vermont from its depredations.

Even in those places, however, a span of not much more than a proverbial stone’s throw or two away can make a big difference in the insect’s survival prospects.

The primary focus of the paper “was to study the seasonal development of SLF populations and develop mathematical equations based on seasonal degree-day accumulations to estimate the timing of key life-stage activity periods,” according to lead author Dr. Dennis Calvin, who recently retired from the College of Agricultural Sciences at Penn State.

Click here to read more.

Source: Entomology Today