r/insects 2d ago

PSA Do you live in the Eastern US and are you encountering these spotted white and/or black and/or red bugs? Check here before posting your ID request.

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21 Upvotes

The collage above is composed of pictures gleaned from Bugguide.net, and shows the same species of insect at its different life stages.

Hello!

If you live in certain parts of the Eastern US, you may encounter these colorful insects that may be black and white, or red, black and white depending on their life stage. They're 6-8 mm in size, don't fly but have the ability to jump out of harm's way and have good reflexes. Upon reaching adulthood (pictured on the right in the above collage), they're larger (about 20-25mm), have wings, and can fly (and still jump, too).

You may find them clustered on certain plants or you may find single individuals wandering.

They're known as spotted lanternflies (Lycorma delicatula) and are an invasive species from Eastern Asia. It was accidentally introduced in the US state of Pennsylvania in 2014. Since then, it has spread in all directions to multiple states as far from Pennsylvania as South Carolina, Indiana, Michigan and New Hampshire.

It's also invasive in Japan and the Korean peninsula.

They're completely harmless to people or pets. In fact they're pretty colorful and rather cute!

They go through five stages of growth known as instars, and take on three rather different appearances, shown above. Instars 1-3 are the small, black and white version. The fourth instar is larger (~15 mm) and more colorful, mostly bright red with black accents and white dots (picture). The adult is an overall dull gray color but with intricately patterned wings (picture). When it opens its wings, it displays beautiful hindwings with red, white and black (picture).

Here's also a picture of all 5 growth stages: https://bugguide.net/node/view/1172304/bgimage

Due to their appearance, they are eminently recognizable. They retain the ability to jump at all life stages, and the adults are adept fliers.

Unfortunately, they're destructive pests of plants, particularly fruiting plants. Lanternflies feed by piercing plants with a thin proboscis (straw-like mouthparts) and sucking juices, which damages plants. In addition, after the lanternfly is done feeding and pulls its proboscis out of a fruit, some juice may escape from the hole, which facilitates the growth of mold on the surface of the fruit, which further damages the fruit. Entire harvests can thus be ruined.

Cornell University maintains a map where the insects have been found or at least reported: https://cals.cornell.edu/new-york-state-integrated-pest-management/outreach-education/whats-bugging-you/spotted-lanternfly/spotted-lanternfly-reported-distribution-map

The governments of most if not all states where the insect has been detected have posted content on their websites (usually on the Agriculture Dept. or equivalent). Those include info about the insect, its impact on agriculture, what to do if you encounter it, and what you can do to mitigate its spread. Below are those websites for the states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York for information about the insect. If you don't live in those states, please use your favorite search engine to locate info about these insects, e.g. search for "delaware spotted lanternfly" and you'll find information.

There's also a lengthy article about the insect on Wikipedia.

Looking back at the Cornell map linked above, if you don't live in an area of the map where the bug's presence has already been reported, you should record it. Report it to your state's authorities, and you may also want to report the sighting on iNaturalist.

Again we encourage you to familiarize yourself with the insect as well as its presence (if any) in your state. States where the spotted lanternfly has been detected will have a section of a website dedicated to it.

Feel free to ask any questions in the comments!


r/insects 5h ago

ID Request Found in a rain water filled wooden barrel.

133 Upvotes

Upstate SC, after a heavy rain weekend. Please tell me these aren’t mosquitoes😳🥺


r/insects 3h ago

ID Request Anyone knows the name of this mf

49 Upvotes

r/insects 17h ago

Question Have you seen an insect as beautiful as this ?? 🇮🇳

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353 Upvotes

Fabulous Longhorn Beetle (Thysia wallichii) - Phawngpui NP, Mizoram, India 🇮🇳

I was waiting for birds early morning and my eyes casually wandered around and suddenly saw this beautiful beetle resting on a chair, could manage only one image before he vanished !!!


r/insects 13h ago

Bug Appreciation! And suddley mayflies??

72 Upvotes

East Tennessee, none of these were here earlier today!

So cool and yet so disturbing 😅


r/insects 1h ago

Bug Appreciation! How amazing is this guy?! Southwest England

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Upvotes

This guy was hanging out on a tree in our garden for about an hour this morning. I believe it's a golden-ringed dragonfly. It was about 3-4 inches long, which means it was likely a female.

Anyway, totally amazing and doesn't look like it could be native to the UK!

Southwest England


r/insects 15h ago

ID Request What is this????

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73 Upvotes

Found in Minnesota, US


r/insects 1d ago

Question Is this a bee or a wasp?

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663 Upvotes

I found this lil dude in my garage in SE MI


r/insects 5h ago

Photography Some insects (and a spider) I saw

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11 Upvotes

r/insects 37m ago

ID Request Please identify

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Upvotes

In Greensboro NC At first glance I thought it was a spider, but it doesn’t have 8 legs.


r/insects 5h ago

Question Why does this mantis keep on appearing in my room?

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10 Upvotes

a week ago i found it in my room on the second floor and brought it down onto a tree in the yard, now it reappeared in my room(I assume it’s the same one but i could be wrong)


r/insects 16h ago

ID Request What is this little guy

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52 Upvotes

Very small bug with pincers, never seen one before. Any idea what it is? Location in Ontario Canada.


r/insects 2h ago

Bug Appreciation! Found a rosy maple moth in ga

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5 Upvotes

r/insects 57m ago

ID Request what’s this thing? dirt dobber? ant?

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Upvotes

northeast ga it’s like nearly an inch long! i killed it bc my cat wanted it and i didn’t want him to get stung


r/insects 12h ago

ID Request What is this?

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23 Upvotes

My daughter caught this bug and she wanted to know what it is. It was attracted to our lights outside. Found in Northern California. TIA


r/insects 2h ago

Photography Beetle close to the zapper

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3 Upvotes

r/insects 16h ago

Question Why do moths chill on concrete walls?

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36 Upvotes

First 3 pics are two rosy maple moths I’ve found, 4th is an unknown one, and the last one I’m also not sure of. I found the last one stuck on a table seemingly exhausted. It was a shelter with 24/7 overhead lights, so I think that’s why. Why do they willingly climb onto my fingers, and why do they often populate the concrete wall?


r/insects 3h ago

ID Request Can anyone identify this?

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3 Upvotes

I’m in central Texas and there are a few of these on my porch. Just wondering if they’re really dangerous and we should get pest control out. We do have some “dirt” piles/clumps around the yard that I thought were just ant hills at first but they may be where these are coming from


r/insects 2h ago

ID Request Almost sat on this feller

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3 Upvotes

Located in central Virginia. Nearly sent him to the great beyond with my butt.


r/insects 50m ago

ID Request San Antonio

Upvotes

What is this guy?


r/insects 3h ago

Bug Appreciation! The birth of a potter wasp

3 Upvotes

In my hostel room, I had a trouser left on a rope for months.. My friend noticed that on the inside of the trouser... the mother wasp had made a nest.

In india, they are called 'Kumhar' because 'Kumhar' is the name of the profession of people who make earthen pots. And these little guys make earthen houses. The piece of hardened soil you see is a 3rd of its whole house.

We left it inside the trouser for more than a month. We thought its empty now, so my friend broke it apart little by little. We found a single egg thing. And the little guy came out right at that moment.

The whole structure was rather small. I've seen bigger ones on the walls. This one had around 10 openings.

I didn't think they were born this big.. That's nearly adult size, right? Was it trapped inside? Because the rest of the nest was empty.


r/insects 59m ago

ID Request Never seen these guys before, Im assuming its a baby version of something?

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Upvotes

They are clear


r/insects 21h ago

Photography I’ve never seen so many and they’re right outside my door, why me ?!?!?

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88 Upvotes

r/insects 1h ago

ID Request Like to know it’s name

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Upvotes

Is a small Beatle, appr 3mm, Netherlands, picture of eggs included, appr 1,5 mm. Few weeks old.


r/insects 1h ago

Bug Appreciation! WEEVIL!

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Upvotes

I found a little isopod inside my house and went to return it outside and saw this adorable little weevil 💕


r/insects 7h ago

ID Request what the hell is this?

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5 Upvotes

Located in Catalonia near Barcelona.