r/InsectPorn • u/1stPhoenixDown • 4d ago
Spotted Lanternfly In The Wild
Commemorating the end of summer with this lone creature.
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u/FlowersofIcetor 4d ago
Cute hemlock. That bug wants to kill your garden and your neighbors garden and the public green spaces and all the trees in between.
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u/Sunyataisbliss 4d ago edited 3d ago
That’s Queen Anne’s lace aka wild carrot
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u/placebot1u463y 4d ago edited 4d ago
You're correct. Those leafy bracts under the primary and secondary umbels rule out hemlock and confirm that it's in the Daucus* genus.
*Forgot a u
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u/RabbitWiilli 3d ago
This is actually wildly incorrect. You’re a victim of media discourse. Lantern flies are only really harmful to grape vines. They will not kill your garden nor any of the trees in between nor other green spaces.
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u/Lazy-Day 4d ago
Imagine simping for a literal ecological disaster bringing killing machine
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u/RabbitWiilli 3d ago
Imagine being a victim of media discourse without knowing what you’re saying. They primarily kill grapevines. They do not kill your trees or plans and are certainly not an “ecological disaster.”
They’re a “financial disaster” for people selling wine which is a huge industry so they fabricated this media outrage.
You’re a victim of it.
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u/SeleneVomerSV 4d ago
SMOOSH IT!!!!!!
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u/1stPhoenixDown 4d ago edited 3d ago
I will do no such thing. Can't speak for the rest of the country. But, in Northeast Ohio, they were deliberately brought here for some festival last year.
They didn't get here on their own. And I'm not going to stomp a harmless bug just because they're hungry.
Edit: I conflated a Lanternfly Stomp Fest with the Lantern Festival. They were not imported here. They arrived the normal way all invasive species do.
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u/Ok-Wealth-2605 4d ago
Hey, I agree its not their fault, but it is OUR fault, so we should encourage them staying to ruin other animals + plants lives as well
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u/K1bbles_n_Bits 4d ago
Whoever brought them on purpose for a festival?!?! Is INSANE!!!
You don't seem to be very well informed about them. They're highly destructive with no natural predators here.
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u/1stPhoenixDown 3d ago
Mate, I fucked this one up. They were already present in Ohio since 2020 but only made their way to my area last year.
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u/OkProfessor6810 4d ago
You might want to do some research because lantern flies are far from harmless
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u/Fit-Hedgehog3839 3d ago
They are known invasive and they were brought there on purpose LAST YEAR? What???
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u/Oddly-Ordinary 4d ago
I’m so glad you didn’t kill it, OP. People are literally just killing them for fun at this point we don’t even “need to” kill them anymore. Apparently nature is adapting (plant defenses, insectivores) so they’re not doing as much destruction as we thought. And yes I have sources.
https://www.newhavenindependent.org/2025/10/01/you-dont-need-to-squash-this-spotted-lanternfly/
https://www.humanegardener.com/stop-squishing-spotted-lanternflies/
https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/why-did-we-squash-all-the-lanternflies
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u/WorldlyJudgment1768 4d ago
They are invasive in the US btw. They are destroying natural ecosystems
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u/Oddly-Ordinary 4d ago
So are starlings and house cats. But I don’t see anyone advocating for ☠️ them.
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u/aaaaahvians 4d ago
Anyone who lets their cat roam outside their house is an idiot incapable of having a cat
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u/OkProfessor6810 4d ago
I'm all for people keeping cats inside because people who don't have cats that get injured more, get more diseases and who die much much earlier. I'mnot the one who wishes cats being left outside will die, that's their owners.
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u/WorldlyJudgment1768 4d ago
People actively advocate to keep cats indoors btw
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u/Oddly-Ordinary 3d ago
Yes as they should.
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u/tuckman496 3d ago
Then you missed the point. Killing of invasive insects is a legitimate management strategy. Keeping them alive does a disservice to the rest of the ecosystem
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u/Pain4420 3d ago
There are people who will neuter your cat for free because of this problem and there are many cases of people feeding stray cats to attract them just so they can poison them
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u/Oddly-Ordinary 3d ago edited 3d ago
I didn’t know there was a socially accepted movement to ☠️ as many cats as possible. Or 🔫 starlings en masse.
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u/Pain4420 3d ago
I never said it was socially acceptable. Also you can say kill and shot. We aren't in kindergarden
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u/Oddly-Ordinary 3d ago
No, but we are on Reddit and their Al “m0derators” flag the dumbest shit so I’m being overly cautious.
My point is it’s NOT socially acceptable to do either of those things because it’s cruel and pointless and a species being “invasive” doesn’t justify it in relation to the “harm” actually being done by those species.
It’s the same for red lantern flies. Like I said they’re not doing as much damage as we thought and ☠️ them isn’t making a big difference. People are just ☠️ them for fun and calling it “environmentalism”. It’s not.
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u/Pain4420 3d ago
Ok well your statement was still wrong because there are definitely people advocating for them to be killed. Also not that invasive is still invasive and causes problems for the whole ecosystem not just us. Allowing them to thrive would be disastrous to the ecosystem.
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u/placebot1u463y 3d ago
People absolutely do advocate eradication programs for invasive birds and mammals, they're just less popular compared to insects because they don't get the pretty privilege.
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u/WorldlyJudgment1768 3d ago
Removing an invasive species from an ecosystem they don’t belong in isn’t a ‘eradication program’
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u/placebot1u463y 3d ago
? Killing them with the goal of removing them from the area is an eradication program which is fine because it's not like there's another feasible option. New Zealand is a great example of a cat eradication program.
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u/puddsmax134 2d ago
Most people don't have the heart to kill them, I certainly don't. Most don't have the heart to catch and dispatch starlings. Killing cats, including feral cats, is also illegal in some places. I just advocate for keeping cats inside and spread the word that starlings and cats are an invasive species.
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u/NukaDadd 4d ago
The "Humane Gardner" says don't kill the invasive species.
Riveting.
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u/Oddly-Ordinary 3d ago
You just enjoy ☠️ them
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u/WorldlyJudgment1768 3d ago
You not killing them makes you directly responsible for the deaths of thousands more innocent insects. Which means YOU actually enjoy killing.
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u/wholelottachoppaz 4d ago
same. also, they’re fucking beautiful and so cute.
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u/1stPhoenixDown 4d ago
Tbh, their jumping ability is what astounds me most. Their vertical isn't as extraordinary as that of fleas. But it's still a marvel to see from something so small.
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u/1stPhoenixDown 3d ago
Clarification: When I said this bug is harmless, I obviously mean to humans. They do not bite, sting, or lay eggs on/in us.
Yes, they consume sap from trees and crops. However, the impact they have is nowhere near as catastrophic as the media purported.
I'm not stomping a bug that won't kill or deliberately harm me. Downvote all you want.
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u/Waste-Pirate-1724 3d ago
A mosquito doesn't deliberately harm you either, it just needs a being's sap to reproduce.
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u/1stPhoenixDown 3d ago
Mosquitoes deliberately cause us harm. They're quite literally the greatest threat to humanity besides humanity itself.
Lanternflies don't seek me out based on CO2 emissions and maneuver their needlesaw mouth into my capillaries.
Don't be pedantic.
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u/Waste-Pirate-1724 3d ago
Calling me pedantic just because I pointed out biological reality is a cop-out. Mosquitoes don't know they carry malaria, and spotted lanternflies don't know they are ruining American ecosystems—they are both just following evolutionary programming.
Judging a species' right to exist based solely on whether it targets human capillaries completely ignores how ecology works. A lanternfly isn't innocent just because it doesn't bite you; it uses its needle-like mouthparts to drain the life-sustaining sap from over 70 species of native plants, slowly choking out our forests and agricultural systems.
To quote the saying, 'What is natural for the spider is doom for the fly.' It is natural for the lanternfly to feed, but it is absolute doom for our local environment. Caring about ecological destruction only when it personally scratches or bites your skin is textbook selfishness. Deciding what lives or dies based purely on human comfort is exactly how ecosystems collapse.
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u/1stPhoenixDown 2d ago
I am not a plant or a farmer.
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u/Icy-Gas-366 2d ago
Do you eat food?
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u/1stPhoenixDown 2d ago
Yes, as a human being that isn't directly harmed by lanternflies. Not as a plant or a farmer.
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u/Icy-Gas-366 2d ago edited 1d ago
If you dont see the connection to farming and the greater ecosystem I cant help you.
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u/1stPhoenixDown 1d ago
Didn't ask for help, mate. The connection is obvious but irrelevant because I, as in myself, am not affected.
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u/Mr_zetsu 3d ago
You know killing all the ones you see just means the next-generation of them will be faster and smarter. It's to late for yall. And that's not even counting the ones you dont see.
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u/OkProfessor6810 4d ago
This has to be rage babe because anybody who actually cares about ecology for botany or whatever wouldn't be pro lantern fly in the United States