Spotted Lanternfly Mitigation Topic Of Virtual Discussion

PHILADELPHIA — The Friends of the Wissahickon group is hosting a virtual discussion on the spotted lanternfly's impact in the region.

On Oct. 12, the public is invited to join the group for a talk by entomology expert Julie Urban, Ph.D, on what's being done to control their future spread and damage.

Urban will provide an overview of research related to the impacts and management of the invasive spotted lanternfly in Pennsylvania, beginning with its first detection in 2014 up to the present. Through insights from her own and others’ research, she will share the broad range of interdisciplinary work being done to better manage this insect pest.

Urban is a research associate professor in the Entomology Department at Pennsylvania State University and earned her doctorate in Evolutionary Biology from the University at Albany-State University of New York. She studies planthopper evolution and their co-evolution with multiple bacterial and fungal symbionts. Her recent work involves aspects of basic and applied research on the invasive planthopper Lycorma delicatula — also konwn as the spotted lanternfly.

Urban has been a member of USDA’s Technical Working Group of scientists, advising management and research on the spotted lanternfly, since it was first detected in the United States in September 2014.

Urban is the lead principal investigator on a regional United States Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture Specialty Crops Research Initiative grant studying the biology, management, and impact reduction of the spotted lanternfly in specialty crops in the eastern United States.

This free Valley Talk is sponsored by Prentiss Smith & Company, providing performance-driven, environmentally and socially responsible investment since 1982.

Register here. Participants will receive a Zoom link upon registration.