The spotted lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula (White), is an invasive planthopper that was first discovered in North America in Berks County, Pennsylvania in 2014. Currently, L. delicatula has spread to eight additional states and threatens agricultural, ornamental, and timber commodities throughout the United States. The timing of insect life events is very important in the development of pest management tools and strategies. In 2019 and 2020, L. delicatula phenology was successfully documented in Winchester, Virginia using weekly 5-min observational surveys at established monitoring plots. Each year, L. delicatula were active in the environment from May to November with initial detections of first, second, third, fourth, and adults occurring in May, May, June, June, and July, respectively. Cumulative average growing degree days were also calculated for the onset of each L. delicatula life stage using local weather data and a lower developmental threshold of 10°C. First-instar L. delicatula were initially observed at 135 and 111.5, adults at 835 and 887, and egg masses at 1673.5 and 1611.5 in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Combined, these data can be used by growers and land managers to facilitate timing of effective pest management strategies.

With the recent introduction of the non-native spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) to the USA, research and concern regarding this insect is increasing. Though L. delicatula is able to feed on many different plant species, its preference for the invasive tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus altissima) is apparent, especially during its later life stage. Therefore, management focused on A. altissima control to help limit L. delicatula establishment and population growth has become popular. Unfortunately, the control of A. altissima is difficult. Verticillium nonalfalfae, a naturally occurring vascular-wilt pathogen, has recently received attention as a potential biological control agent. Therefore, we studied if L. delicatula fourth instars or adults could vector V. nonalfalfae from infected A. altissima material to healthy A. altissima seedlings in a laboratory setting. We were unable to re-isolate V. nonalfalfae from the 45 A. altissima seedlings or from the 225 L. delicatula utilized in this experiment. We therefore, found no support that L. delicatula could effectively vector this pathogen between A. altissima in laboratory conditions. Since L.delicatula’s ability to vector V. nonalfalfae has implications for the dissemination of both this beneficial biological control and other similar unwanted plant pathogens, future research is needed to confirm these findings in a field setting.