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A wasp consuming two joined lanternflies
A
Never thought I’d root for a wasp.
A
To be fair it looks like a European paper wasp (which are in the US). They are generally docile and kill other pests around. I don’t want them on my deck but I usually leave them alone.
P
Getting wasps on your deck does sound unpleasant.
Z
Gotta keep ya deck clean, nobody wants bugs on Their deck.
G
The other day at work i came inside after a walk and kept swatting at what I thought was a stray hair tickling my neck. A few minutes later I felt something on my head and swatted at it, and it was a damn paper wasp! The wasp didnt even care. I’m glad I know they’re generally docile or I definitely may have freaked out a bit. My old house would always get a paper wasp nest somewhere on my porch and in my shed–never once had an issue with them, even when moving things in and out of the shed. I like them even more after this video!
S
Weekend cool month travel clear strong ideas net movies gather!
M
What about side by side with a friend?
M
Aye… I can do that.
O
These wasps are thriving on lantern flies… we dig in the Tri state area of south Jersey, philly and Delaware. And this summer my 1st in 20 years working with the company, everyone has been stung and attacked my wasps/yellow jackets… Glad they are onto the invasive food source, but damn.
P
Maybe you should introduce large spiders, like Sydney Funnel-webs, to take care of the wasp problem. Then you can introduce giant centipedes to take care of the spider problem. Then…
W
> Sydney Funnel-webs …bit of a ‘brought a nuke to a deer hunt’ issue, no? 😅
X
Just keep working your way up the food chain till you get to gorillas. Then you just wait for the winter for them to freeze to death.
1
The joro spiders are making their way up the coast. Enjoy!
D
Aren’t joro spiders relatively docile, though? Edit: they are, but they’re also a threat to native spider populations for a bunch of reasons.
A
All of a sudden we’ve got dinosaurs with frickin laser beams.
B
Perhaps I treated you too harshly
O
What are lantern flies?
R
invasive insects that are all over the East coast here in the states. Kill on sight lol
T
It’s our duty to kill these fuckers, and I do every chance I get. They’re so fucking dumb too, they fly right at you for some reason, just makes me more eager to stomp em. Was trying to set up some Halloween decorations over the weekend and they kept landing on the back of my neck, lil fuckers
J
> It’s our duty to kill these fuckers, and I do every chance I get. These rancid, flying dickheads lay their eggs on any trees/bushes with smooth bark, and when their eggs hatch it fucks the trees/bushes up and makes them susceptible to rot and disease. They have started laying their eggs on grape vines. I’ve done a weekend or two in the spring going around to various places and scraping the eggs off the trees in the last year to cut down on the population, but the little bastards are everywhere. Step on them if you can.
G
Sadly I don’t think we can win this war by stomping on a random one every now and then. I think we just gotta accept the fact that our ecosystems are gonna be constantly changing, sometimes in ways we don’t like
S
“The U.S. Department of the Interior cut the National Invasive Species Council by 50% and terminated its advisory committee. The scientists say deep cuts like these cripple the ability of federal agencies to work together on a comprehensive plan to combat invasive species.” Looks like the war won’t be won anytime soon.
J
We don’t need an “advisory council” to tell us it’s an invasive species, and an “advisory council” wouldn’t coordinate any sort of extermination efforts. There are already local, state, and federal efforts to kill these things, as well as private groups working to reduce their numbers. I volunteered last year to do a couple of drives to get their eggs off the trees before they hatched. They appear to like any trees with smooth bark, like maples and birches. They have also started laying eggs on grape vines, which is why there is a push in my area to reduce their numbers.
[
I’ve always been dumbfounded by these localist only views simply because it’s so unpragmatic. There is so so so much efficiency in scale. Also something like this would obviously have to be regional at the very least. Also, the federal government actually have eliminated invasive and or undesirable species for the United States successfully. See screwworm flies for example. Anti federal agency ideology seems truly uninterested in outcomes
[
Btw the state and local groups help and are great too! And good on you for helping out
J
> I’ve always been dumbfounded by these localist only views This is not a “localist only view.” Did I not say there “are already local, state, ***and federal*** efforts to kill these things,” or did I misremember that? I’m saying that do-nothing federal boards aren’t actually very useful for anything. The professionals at the USDA and US Fish and Wildlife Service, among other agencies, are dealing with this problem. Adding an extra layer of pointless bureaucracy so that friends of elected officials can collect a paycheck or pad their resume doesn’t really do anything except add an extra layer of administrative bullshit.
M
I live right near the epicenter of their arrival in the US, and the first year or two of their existence in a new place is the worst. After that, the birds decide they are cool eating them, and numbers go way down. I remember wading through piles of carcasses on the sidewalk. Sure, I still see them and stomp on them, but they are just another bug now.
P
They are fast as fuck in their nymph stage.
R
They are, true. Also pretty fast in their grown form, but can only go forward. Get in front of them and they can’t go anywhere when you stomp them.
I
I work w kids and I have trained them to kill lanturn flies and they have proudly shown me their kills LOL
T
Surprisingly big fuckers, from what I’ve seen. They look about cicada-sized, which is too big in my eyes.
E
They are not anywhere near the size of a typical cicada.
J
To be fair, any insect is too big to put in your eyes.
O
I get that but how are they a bigger nuisance than wasps? Do these flies bite?
W
They be eating our crops!
J
Ah so a new plague, how exciting
G
Not a plague, but a pestilence. A plague is a disease.
D
With all the other shit going on in the world, why not, throw it on the pile
W
When do we get to light the pile on fire?
L
Recent studies have shown they aren’t nearly as destructive as previously believed. They just appear in vast numbers, which is irritating when you can’t be outside without bugs jumping onto you. They showed up in huge numbers in my neighborhood about four years ago, but the local predators have figured out that they’re food, so they aren’t much of a problem anymore. Edit: never mind, they are less of a threat to trees than previously thought, but still awful for crops, especially wine grapes. I must have skimmed those studies. Sorry
M
No, but they’re terrible for the local environment and destroying ecosystems so they’re worse than wasps
R
They don’t bite humans, but they are dangerous. They’re incredibly harmful to vegetation, including the crops we eat. So they are directly affecting our agriculture and are harmful to humans in that way
O
I see where you’re coming from now. They don’t exist where I’m from, I thought they just looked like super sized lady bugs which also can be an invasive species, but are nowhere near as hated.
G
Whaaat?! This is the first I’m ever hearing of Ladybugs being invasive. They are famously wanted in gardens for eating aphids that destroy plants and crops. You can order ladybugs by the thousand to drop in your garden for pest control. What harm do they do that makes them an unwanted invasive species in some places and where?
B
Long story short – they are recently arrive invasive species that feed extensively on a different invasive species called “the tree of heaven”. Since the tree of heaven has been invasive for over a hundred years they have an EXTENSIVE food supply and they are in exponential growth mode. Like walking across a parking lot and the ground crunches under your feet. The ground “moving” as you walk your dog, hundreds and hundreds of thousands of them swarming the air exponential growth. Good news is they don’t bite, bad news is they are very weak flies so they hitch rides to get from place to place. If you just stand there they will keep jumping on you and crawl up your shirt, like dozens at a time. They’re roughly the size of a cricket with wings. So, it’s just your opinion, they aren’t worse than wasps because they don’t hurt you, but they are worse if you don’t like bugs flying into your constantly and aggressively. Final good news is they seem to be moving on? Where I’m from they were super bad in 2020 and have slowly spread away and petered out, honestly, I only see maybe a couple dozen a year now. But when I travel to NYC or DC they are all over the side walks and buildings.
E
It was a lot worse when they first got here (NYC) 5 years ago… the last couple years I’ve hardly seen them.
T
Seeing as they’re not toxic it’s possible the birds in your area have learned to eat them.
E
They’re not dangerous but they have zero respect for personal space and love to climb up in your hair and under you shirt. Also, they’re horribly invasive and are destroying the ecosystems of our dear beautiful Eastern Shore. Plus they’re red commie bastards
A
These wasps are barely a nuisance. They are partial pollinators and mostly stick around garbage bins, being very non-threatening just doing their thing. At my job I get surrounded by a few dozen of them daily and I’ve never gotten stung once. Lantern Flies on the other hand are an invasive species that keeps multiplying faster and faster. I live in Queens NY and I went from 2 summers ago: just learning from my girlfriend that they existed, and saw that they were all over the streets in her neighborhood…1 summer ago: I began seeing them in my neighborhood in small pockets…This summer: THEY ARE EVERYWHERE, thousands of dead ones on the sidewalks from people doing their due diligence and stomping them. They’re relatively new to north America so the science is constantly changing, originally when I read up on them I’d heard that they multiplied so much partially because they had no known predators in NA. I see now that there are a few birds and bugs that will eat them (the wasps above are probably just being scavengers I’ve never seen wasps or anything for that matter attack living lantern flies). But for now the only advice is to stomp them when you see them. I tried reporting new colonies to my state dept last year and they replied back that they are no longer taking measures in my area because it’s a lost cause.
B
Plant ravaging invasive species
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