It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No—it’s killer Spotted Lantern Flies! AHHHH!

Okay, they might not actually kill you . . . heck, they don’t even bite, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t creepy.

While most things living in nature’s world should be left be, it is all fair game on these little monsters. Not only is it okay to squish these guys, but it’s encouraged. The black and red bug is invasive! They are a major threat to some very important native Pennsylvania trees.

First introduced to the United States in 2012, the little guys arrived from China unnoticed as egg masses on a stone shipment. In 2014, the Spotted Lantern Fly was found in Pennsylvania, but many people only began to really notice this past summer as the bugs appeared everywhere.

Sophomore Emma Capers strongly expressed, “I just really hate them. They’re everywhere and they’re so annoying. They all need squashed.”

With so many bugs crawling around this summer compared to summers in the past, many people have become more aware of these bugs’ evil plot to kill trees. They specifically like the Tree of Heaven.

Senior Delaney exclaimed, “UGH! I hate them, I hate them, I hate them! Every time I go on my break at work, I go outside and stomp on them.”

Now you might feel bad about squishing them (and potentially getting a little too much bug guts on your shoes) but they really have nothing to add to our ecosystem as they have no natural predators in our area.

They are born as little ugly black bugs with white spots and all they do is kill trees. You might have seen them crawl around as nymphs around May to July this year. When they grow up, they become black, tan, and red which is what they look like now. But now they can do the worst thing of all: fly.

“I see them flying all the time on the [soccer] field. I don’t want them there! [My teammate] Marina always plays hopscotch to jump on them and kill them,” said junior Alison Carson.

Have you ever been smacked in the face by a bug? How about a big bug? How about a big, killer bug?? There are so many bugs flying around in the sky that they will swarm you and attack you—don’t underestimate a small bug in a big army.

Thankfully, our cold winter will kill them off, but won’t affect their eggs which means they’ll return next year, so until then, keep smashing those Lantern Flies.