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An egg mass of the spotted lanternfly might look innocuous — but the Invasive Species Centre is warning that it poses a terrible threat to the Windsor-Essex region's wine and fruit-farming industries.
"It kind of just looks like an inch-long smear of mud, and it can be on almost any surface outdoors," said Emily Posteraro, a program co-ordinator with the centre.
Posteraro was at Windsor's Ojibway Nature Centre on Monday to hold educational workshops on the spotted lanternfly — a plant-eating insect of Asian origin that has been establishing itself in North America over the past decade.
A spotted lanternfly specimen presented by the Invasive Species Centre of Canada. (Dalson Chen/CBC)During the past two years, there have been only 10 sightings of spotted lanternfly specimens in southwestern Ontario. That's including the bug that local resident Catherine Archer stomped and photographed in South Windsor in late September 2024.
But across the border, spotted lanternflies have been spreading throughout the eastern United States since 2014.
Experts such as the Invasive Species Centre have been warning that if the insect makes its way northward, it will have a major impact on Canada's vineyards, orchards, flower nurseries and forestry.
Emily Posteraro, program development coordinator with the Invasive Species Centre of Canada. (Dalson Chen/CBC)Posteraro said that what makes the spotted lanternfly such a problem are its "generalist" feeding habits: It can thrive on more than 100 species of vegetation, from vine crops to perennials to hardwood trees.
There's also the spotted lanternfly's lack of preference for where it lays its eggs: Practically any stationary object will do.
This time of year, adult lanternflies have completed their breeding cycle and have died off. But the egg masses have been laid for hatching next spring.
Egg masses of the spotted lanternfly. (Canadian Food Inspection Agency)Posteraro said busy border regions like Windsor-Essex should be especially vigilant, given the amount of cargo and international traffic moving through our area.
"So if you were to go over the border into the U.S. to areas with known infestations, you might consider checking your vehicle on the way back," Posteraro advised. "Any kind of outdoor equipment, really. Firewood, concrete slabs. There's a lot of different places you could look."
The spotted lanternfly is native to China and parts of Vietnam. It's theorized that it was accidentally introduced to North America through international trade.
Now that the bug is on this continent, its superior adaptability is allowing it to flourish over other insect species.
An adult specimen of a spotted lanternfly, presented by the Invasive Species Centre. (Dalson Chen/CBC)But Jean Dumouchelle, a Maidstone resident who attended Monday's workshop out of concern for local ecology, doesn't think this issue is about survival of the fittest.
"Charles Darwin wasn't transporting species from continent to continent," Dumouchelle said. "So we've caused (this issue)... We've contributed to the change. We can contribute to trying to create some balance back again — to getting the balance back."
Maidstone resident Jean Dumouchelle. (Dalson Chen/CBC)Posteraro encourages anyone with evidence of the spotted lanternfly to submit it to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
"What we're doing is enabling early detection and rapid response," Posteraro said. "So if you spot, we want you to snap it, catch it, and report it."
"Get some pictures of it, and then we want you to actually catch the specimen. You can put it in some kind of plastic bag or container and then tell CFIA about it."
Posteraro said it doesn't matter if the specimen is alive or dead.
A photo of the spotted lanternfly that Catherine Archer sighted and killed in south Windsor on Sept. 25, 2024. (Catherine Archer)Insects like the spotted lanternfly aren't the only invasive species that the City of Windsor has to worry about: The municipality has announced it will be applying herbicide this winter to try to limit the spread of non-native plants.
Honeysuckles, European buckthorn, autumn olive shrubs, and the tree-of-heaven are among the invasive plants being targeted. The program doesn't involve sprays: the herbicide will be put directly on stumps and vines.
No parks or paths will be closed for the program, but park users are advised to stay on recognized trails and keep pets leashed. The herbicide applications will continue until March 15.
A spotted lanternfly rests on a tree trunk. (Invasive Species Centre)