HARRISBURG, Pa. — Bradford, Sullivan, Venango and Wyoming Counties have been added to the Pennsylvania counties quarantined due to confirmed populations of the invasive pest spotted lanternfly.
Pennsylvanians are encouraged to look for and destroy lanternfly eggs prior to the spring hatch to help slow the destructive pest’s spread.
The invasive spotted lanternfly was first discovered in the U.S. in Berks County in 2014. While aggressive, coordinated efforts among states and industry have slowed its spread, the insect, which spreads largely by hitching rides on or in cars and other vehicles, continues to threaten valuable food and ornamental crops.
In 2024, the department expanded the quarantine area by one county to 52 counties, although more than half of those counties have relatively small, isolated populations of lanternflies.
In his 2025-26 budget, Gov. Josh Shapiro has proposed continued funding to combat lanternflies and other invasive pests and pathogens and to support producers whose livelihoods they threaten.
Part of the funding will go to support a second lanternfly detection dog, Ruby, to work in western Pennsylvania. Ruby joins Lucky, the nation’s first dog specially trained to detect lanternfly eggs in hard-to-reach areas like shipping pallets used to transport products from quarantined areas.
Learn how to recognize and report spotted lanternflies, control them on your property and keep from taking them to new homes when you travel at agriculture.pa.gov/spottedlanternfly.
