Hordes of spotted lanternflies are flapping through the state, threatening agriculture. “They jump, they’re big, they’re scary,” one Pennsylvanian said. “It’s like all of your worst nightmares coming to fruition.”
With a theme of “Living With(out) Insects,” the 2019 edition of Penn State's Great Insect Fair will explore the widely publicized, worldwide decline of insects from 10 a.m. to 4 pm. Saturday, September 28, at the Snider Agricultural Arena on the University Park campus.
The Barbercheck Lab is seeking one Master’s student to start in the Summer or Fall of 2020.
In the Great Spotted Lanternfly War, Pennsylvania’s citizen-soldiers are fighting back with fly swatters and vacuums, dish soap and sticky tape. They’re stomping and spraying and zapping and bragging about their kills on social media. “DESTROY THEM,” a propaganda poster urges. “Die, die, die, spotted lanternfly,” a balladeer sings.
The invasive pest has killed vines and forced the closure of wineries in Berks and Lehigh counties. Bucks County is already seeing damages, as researchers study a nearby vineyard with an eye toward solutions.
After entering the museum, visitors who head toward the left wall will encounter a great swarm of insects. The pinned specimens are arranged in 16 repurposed insect drawers, configured in a four-by-four grid. Looking closer, visitors will observe that the insects are clustered, not randomly—but according to their taxonomic group. The eagle-eyed may notice that the size of each cluster is proportional to that group’s diversity: a cloud of flies, a battalion of beetles, a mass of moths and butterflies; just a smattering of scorpionflies, a handful of stick insects. Within the multitudes, 100 specimens are adorned with a number corresponding to a poster with more information about that species.
A unique undertaking in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences will shine a light on how solar farms can contribute to healthy ecosystems and boost pollinator populations.
Spotted lantern flies have been destroying fruit trees and vineyards in the Philadelphia area.
Invent Penn State's Tech Tournament is a showcase of disruptive technologies and early-stage companies
The spotted lanternfly is damaging Pennsylvania vineyards and threatening other farm goods and trees. Researchers are looking at a fungus and tiny wasps as options to kill it.
Researchers testing a biopesticide to control spotted lanternfly in areas of Norristown Farm Park this past summer are encouraged by the results and say they may have discovered a very effective weapon to stamp out the invasive pests.
I didn’t think it would happen to me, but I have become one of those parents. You know the ones: the type who are always bragging about their children’s latest achievements, proudly showing photos to anyone who displays even the vaguest interest, and vocally declaring that their progeny are geniuses.
What kinds of ethical considerations, if any, are relevant to research, management, or conservation efforts involving insects? What limits might be appropriate for those actions? These are questions we ask as members of a profession—one that’s devoted to the study of certain organisms.
Marjorie A. Hoy is internationally recognized for her groundbreaking research with the first laboratory-modified natural enemy deployed in a pest management program. The natural enemy had been genetically improved through selection to be resistant to three pesticide classes. Hoy is also highly regarded for the development of classical biological control of invasive pests of Florida citrus.
Rudolf Schilder, assistant professor of entomology at Penn State University, took some time to explain why Pennsylvania residents are seeing so many dragonflies this month. He studies dragonfly factors that impact their flight performance, usually in a laboratory.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. The Pensylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) is waging an all-out war on a tiny insect called the spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula). Researchers at the Beneficial Insects Introduction Research Unit (BIIRU), a subdivision of the PADA, in Newark, Delaware, have come up with a plan to eradicate the invasive insect once and for all, using a curious weapon: wasps.
The oft-memed slogan “save the bees” has been all the buzz for several years now, but who is actually making an effort to save one of the planet’s most important insects?
Dr. Rudolf Schilder, assistant professor of entomology at Penn State, took some time to explain why Somerset County residents are seeing so many dragonflies this month. He studies dragonfly flight and factors that impact their flight performance, usually in a laboratory.
Michael Skvarla, Ph.D., is an extension educator and the director of the Insect Identification Laboratory at the Pennsylvania State University. While a Pennsylvania native, he graduated with his B.S. from Purdue University and his M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Arkansas, all in entomology. His graduate studies and experience at the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service in Beltsville, Maryland, give him a broad background that comes in handy when a particularly unique specimen is submitted for identification.
Walking around a park near Allentown, Pa., I didn't even notice the bugs at first. Then Heather Leach arrived. She's an insect expert from Penn State University.
Philadelphia police have issued a public service announcement: Please do not contact authorities if you see a Spotted Lanternfly. Instead, the department said on Twitter that the insects are not a police issue and Philly should welcome “our new insect overlords.”
When the new invasive species known as the spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) was first identified in Berks County, Pennsylvania in 2014, only a few facts were known about the insect: it is a plant hopper native to China, India, Japan and Vietnam, and the one-inch-long insect prefers to feed on the sap of grapevines, apple and stone fruit trees, hardwood trees including maple, as well as more than 70 additional species. Because of its fondness for grapevines, the spotted lanternfly (SLF) immediately became a concern for the grape and wine industry in Pennsylvania and neighboring states.
As you've been driving around York County, especially along Interstate 83, you might have noticed thick webs in some of the trees.
Penn State is requiring all employees who travel in and out of any of the 14 counties included in the invasive spotted lanternfly “quarantine zone” for work to receive training and carry spotted lanternfly kits.
As Pennsylvania continues to lose ground in the war against the spotted lanternfly, a new hope is on the horizon.
We write in reply to a letter in the Aug. 24 issue of Lancaster Farming from Travis Martin, who asked about our collaborative efforts to contain and manage spotted lanternfly infestations.
This is the time of year when thousands of students, families and football fans are coming to University Park, and Penn State officials want to make sure those visitors are not transporting the spotted lanternfly, an invasive insect that is threatening the northeastern U.S., especially southeastern Pennsylvania.
Insecticides kill insects. It should be no surprise, then, that in Brazil, which has seen a 27% increase in pesticide sales since last year, roughly 500 million honey bees were found dead in piles across four states in early spring. The country’s pesticide use has grown by 770% between 1990 to 2016, as reported by Bloomberg.
Health officials are touting a new protection against bloodsucking insects amid reports of a rare mosquito-borne disease that has infected four people in Massachusetts, killing one woman.
Her other options exhausted, Sonia Jung reached for the self-closing forceps. Neither the reed of grass, the cotton swab, nor the nylon foam had been enough to lure one of Philadelphia’s most secretive animals.
