Spotted Lanternfly Quarantine Expands In Pennsylvania
December 2, 2015 
(Photo credit: Dana Rhodes Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture)
A quarantine for the spotted lanternfly, which was discovered last year in Pennsylvania, has expanded to several townships and municipalities in the state.
The spotted lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula, is an inch-long black, red, and white-spotted pest. It attacks the woody tissue on grapes, apples, peaches, pines, and many other species of trees and shrubs.
Amity and Douglass townships in Berks County are now a part of a limited movement quarantine designed to control the spread of the pest. These townships are now part of four counties affected by a quarantine, which now covers:
- Berks County: Amity, Colebrookdale, District, Douglass, Earl, Hereford, Longswamp, Oley, Pike, Rockland and Washington townships and the boroughs of Bally, Bechtelsville, Boyertown, and Topton
- Montgomery County: Douglass and Upper Hanover townships and the boroughs of East Greenville, Pennsburg, and Red Hill
- Bucks County: Milford Township and Trumbauersville Borough
- Chester County: South Coventry Township
“We are pleased that the residents and businesses in the area continue to be vigilant and turn in specimens of the spotted lanternfly,” said Russell Redding, Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary. “This is a key to winning the battle against the pest. The populations of insects are not high in these newly identified townships. With our community partners, we will continue our surveying and control efforts to ensure we are doing everything we can to eradicate this pest.”
While the quarantined areas cover four adjacent counties, South Coventry Township in Chester County is an isolated quarantine area, not directly connected to any other quarantine area. Survey continues in the corridor between South Coventry and the rest of the spotted lanternfly quarantine, making it possible to detect spotted lanternfly in those areas as well.
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