Posted by Katie Remine, Wildlife Conservation
A lantern that's easy to spot!
A lantern that's easy to spot!
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| Spotted lanternfly WildLantern! |
As you stroll the beautiful and luminous wonderland of WildLanterns at Woodland Park Zoo this year, keep your eyes peeled for the colorful spotted lanternflies (Lycorma delicatula) between the zoo’s 1899 Grove and Tropical Rain Forest. Enjoy the stunning beauty of these insects, native to subtropical regions of southeast Asia including eastern China, in the form of larger-than-life glowing lanterns!
After your WildLanterns experience, we encourage you to keep your eyes peeled for these beautiful insects around Washington and the Pacific northwest (though the real ones are much smaller, about an inch long!) even though they are not native to our region. If you should see one anywhere in Washington or the Pacific northwest, take a photo and report it!
These insects, a true bug in the group of insects called planthoppers, use their piercing mouthparts to pierce and suck sap from plants. They were first detected in the US on the East Coast in 2014 and have expanded to 20 US states. As of late 2025, they are still only in the northeastern US, but are showing a westward expansion. They can cause damage and harm to plants including grape vines, hop vines, apple trees and stone fruit trees by sucking their sap and by promoting the growth of mold on the sweet “honeydew” they excrete onto plant surfaces.
After your WildLanterns experience, we encourage you to keep your eyes peeled for these beautiful insects around Washington and the Pacific northwest (though the real ones are much smaller, about an inch long!) even though they are not native to our region. If you should see one anywhere in Washington or the Pacific northwest, take a photo and report it!
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| Photo of spotted lanternfly by Tom Field via iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/589172682 |
These insects, a true bug in the group of insects called planthoppers, use their piercing mouthparts to pierce and suck sap from plants. They were first detected in the US on the East Coast in 2014 and have expanded to 20 US states. As of late 2025, they are still only in the northeastern US, but are showing a westward expansion. They can cause damage and harm to plants including grape vines, hop vines, apple trees and stone fruit trees by sucking their sap and by promoting the growth of mold on the sweet “honeydew” they excrete onto plant surfaces.
Public awareness is our greatest tool to prevent the spread of this potentially economically damaging insect to our region. If an infestation were to occur, it’s likely that extensive pesticide applications would be necessary to control it – to protect our native insects, including pollinators, we’d be wise to avoid that. Early detection is key – so if you see a spotted lanternfly in the Pacific northwest, take photos, note the location and report it! You’ll know it’s a spotted lanternfly by the way they hold their wings like a tent over their back and by the spots on the wings – black spots on the brown forewings and a distinct red and black spot pattern on the hindwings, just like the ones at WildLanterns only much smaller! You can find reporting forms at the links below. The Washington Invasive Species Council also has an app you can download and use to report observations of invasive species in our state.
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| Photo of spotted lantern fly by Benjamin Burgunder via iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/590542841 |
Report a lanternfly sighting
Report a sighting online to the Washington State Department of Agriculture
Or email pest@agr.wa.gov or call 1-800-443-6684
More information on spotted lanternflies from the Washington State Department of Agriculture:
https://agr.wa.gov/departments/insects-pests-and-weeds/insects/spotted-lanternfly
Report a sighting online to the Washington Invasive Species Council
More information on spotted lanternflies from the Washington Invasive Species Council:
https://invasivespecies.wa.gov/priorityspecies/spotted-lanternfly/
Or email pest@agr.wa.gov or call 1-800-443-6684
More information on spotted lanternflies from the Washington State Department of Agriculture:
https://agr.wa.gov/departments/insects-pests-and-weeds/insects/spotted-lanternfly
Report a sighting online to the Washington Invasive Species Council
More information on spotted lanternflies from the Washington Invasive Species Council:
https://invasivespecies.wa.gov/priorityspecies/spotted-lanternfly/
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Photo of spotted lanternflies by Martyn Drabik-Hamshare via iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/588744277 |
Fun fact: Did you know that in common names of insects, a space between two names can have a very specific meaning? If an insect is truly (taxonomically) in the group its common name implies, then the words have a space in between. For example, “house fly” is a species of fly (Musca domestica, a species in the taxonomic order Diptera, which are flies). Spotted lanternfly, however, is a species of planthopper (Order Hemiptera, these are technically the insects that can be called “bugs”!) and not taxonomically a fly, thus the words “lantern” and “fly” have no space in between in their common name.
Thank you for visiting WildLanterns and joining Woodland Park Zoo in efforts to conserve our local wildlife and habitats!
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