Princeton Student Project Aims To Rid NJ Of Spotted Lanternfly

PRINCETON, NJ — It was in April when New Jersey placed eight counties in quarantine to prevent the spread of the spotted lanternfly. The New Jersey Department of Agriculture advised residents to eliminate the masses of eggs and stomp on the pesky insect. But trying to stomp them out of existence wasn’t enough, because now there are too many.

Two Princeton High School students are working on a project to rid New Jersey of this scourge, while not harming other insects. Debolina Sen and Frank Solares are working on an eco-friendly device that catches and kills the spotted lanternfly.

“We found a few fungi that are ecofriendly, and they don't harm the environment as much. Essentially, once we spray the spotted lanternfly with them, they die,” said Sen.

The students conducted research in which they sprayed the spotted lanternfly with the fungi. They mix the fungi with water and spray it on the insects. Many of them die, and those who don’t, interact with other insects spreading the fungi, who in turn die.

“We are on the verge of getting some really significant data because nine out of 20 spotted lanternflies died in that group,” Sen said.

Sen began working on this project last year when she saw how prevalent the spread of the spotted lanternfly was in New Jersey. She was joined over the summer by Solares who showed interest in the project.

“We knew we wanted to do something which would help stop the spread of the spotted lanternflies because they are very harmful to agriculture. We looked through papers and read scientific articles. Now we're just trying to see how the fungi would do with different temperatures,” Sen said.

The project is also important as it helps protect other bugs and insects from being sprayed with harmful pesticides.

“We're trying to see if this could become a solution – in the sense that it won’t kill other insects which are otherwise good for the environment,” Sen said.

In the first year, people were able to smash the spotted lanternfly. “But then there was some kind of a natural selection where all the ones that we used to dismiss didn't reproduce, but all the ones that were able to get away were able to reproduce. So, in the second year, they were able to escape and they've gotten very good at evading people trying to smash them,” said Mark Eastburn, co-teacher at the Princeton High School's Research Program, where Sen and Solares conduct their research.

While the spotted lanternfly is not a threat to humans or animals, it is known to feed on numerous types of vegetation. The dangerously invasive pests are known to prey on dozens of types of crops and trees, and they attach themselves to the bark of trees, laying their eggs and multiplying, state officials say.

For their research, the students have also identified which trees to spray — the Tree of Heaven (ailanthus altissima) which is native to China. “Lanternflies are attracted to it because it's from where they are – China,” Solares said.

“If we can spray the trees that they're attracted to, and then they'll either die or just go and spread to the other insects.”

The spotted lanternfly is native to Asia, but arrived in the U.S. in Berks County, Pa., on a shipment in 2014. The species has been advancing ever since, causing Pennsylvania to have 34 counties currently under quarantine.

The insect was first found in New Jersey in 2018. Then, a Warren County woman had two clusters of spotted lanternfly eggs attached to her pre-cut Christmas tree, but she didn't notice them until she saw a few strange-looking insects inside her home a month later, when the tree was still up.

Nymph and adult spotted lanternflies cause extensive damage when they feed, sucking sap from stems and leaves and causing the plant to ooze and weep.

Stomping might be a quick, short-term solution, but if it could hurt other bugs and insects.

“We're trying to come up with a long-term solution to help control this very massively growing population of lanternflies,” Solares said.

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