WASHINGTON, March 15, 2024—Help the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) stomp out invasive pests this spring! Challenge your detection prowess: Look for spotted lanternfly and spongy moth egg masses on vehicles, trees, and other outdoor surfaces during the winter and early spring. If you find them, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) recommends smashing and scraping the invasive egg masses off into a plastic bag, sealing it, and disposing of them in the municipal trash.
The spotted lanternfly and spongy moth are economically and environmentally destructive invasive insects. Together, they attack or defoliate hundreds of tree and plant species. Both the spotted lanternfly and the spongy moth are able hitchhikers in their egg mass life stage. They can attach to and travel unnoticed on trucks, cars, trains, planes, and items people leave outdoors and then move to other locales. The spotted lanternfly is currently found in 17 states, the spongy moth has been detected in 20. It’s important to keep these pests from hitchhiking to new states. Matthew Travis, USDA APHIS national policy manager for the spotted lanternfly, encourages U.S. residents to…
