Pest plague could possibly be taken out by ‘Chinese nemesis’ in ‘WW3 for bugs’

Scientists are deciding whether or not to deploy a dangerous “nemesis” to help with New York’s lanternfly problem.

Every summer since 2020 has seen New York City plagued by a swarm of lanternflies. These deceptively beautiful moth-like creatures rile up residents of the Big Apple no end, with authorities keen to “stomp them out”.

But no matter how hard the city’s pest squads try to get rid of the little critters, every year they return – seemingly in larger numbers each time.

Now some researchers are looking at the possibility of bringing in the lanternfly’s “arch nemesis” all the way from China. Enter the Dryinidae wasp.

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This insect is similar in appearance to a jacked-up ant with wings, and has been lording it over lanternflies in its backyard for centuries. US Department of Agriculture researchers are reportedly in the early stages of studying whether the parasitic wasp could help give the boot to lanternflies in the US, reports Gothamist.

Scientists are putting their hopes in this Dryinidae wasp assassin, which gets rid of lanternflies in a gruesome fashion. The bug’s method of murder is to lay eggs inside a live lanternfly, which when hatched to larvae eat the victim alive from the inside.

The only problem is that this “nemesis” of the lanternfly could become a pest itself if introduced.

“The wasp is kind of a common natural enemy to the lanternfly,” said Julie Urban, an evolutionary biologist at Penn State University. “With as good of a job as they’re doing, and knowing that this kind of thing is probably a natural control agent … this seems like a reasonable bet to me.”

But time is now running out on the decision. Lanternflies feed on the sap of trees, making it tougher for flora to make it through the freezing winter months. The polka-dotted red bugs have now spread as far as the Finger Lakes, Long Island and Lake Erie, which means New York’s wine production could suffer at the hands of these tiny pests.

The state ranks third in US wine production, creating 30 million gallons of vino every year, and local environmental authorities have noticed that lanternflies are a bit partial to New York’s grape vines.