"The insect poses a serious threat to American crops, particularly vineyards, and inspires creative backyard methods of eliminating them."

"On Aug. 17, a banner floated in the blue sky above Ocean Grove, N.J., with a call to arms: “JOIN THE BATTLE — BEAT THE BUG.” A large picture showed an insect with crimson and Dalmatian-spotted wings outspread. The spotted lanternfly, the Northeast’s pest à la mode, was back.

A week earlier, officials from New Jersey’s Department of Agriculture placed eight counties under quarantine, asking anyone traveling through Warren, Hunterdon, Mercer, Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, Salem or Somerset to thoroughly check their vehicles for any sign of the hitchhiking bugs. “If you are able to eliminate the Spotted Lanternfly, please do so,” the department asks on its website.

New Jersey has been tracking and treating the inch-long pest since it appeared in the summer of 2018, but this year’s population has spread into the state’s western counties along the Delaware River, according to the agriculture department."

Sabrina Imbler reports for the New York Times August 21, 2020. [2]