These sex-crazed bugs are not buzzing off!
The Big Apple’s spotted lanternfly invasion is getting worse — with more sightings of the plant-destroying pests as their mating season revs up in the urban jungle, entomologists and residents said Wednesday.
The invasive insects — which ravage everything from fruit trees to grapevines and vegetable gardens — have grown to adults and are swarming the city in an effort to get laid, said Jessica Ware, an associate curator of invertebrate zoology at the American Museum of Natural History.
“People are noticing them in huge numbers,” Ware told The Post. “They’re flitting around, jumping and gliding. August is a busy time for them; they’re mating and laying eggs before winter comes and are particularly active this time of year.”
By late August, the horndog bugs — which are native to China and Southeast Asia and bear black spots and gray wings — have grown bigger and redder in color, making them more visible on their sultry pursuits.
The lusty lanternflies have been spotted hunting for love on the window sills of gleaming Manhattan skyscrapers, lounging on wooden telephone poles and prowling Central Park for hookups, Ware and other experts said.
Jacob Leeser, of Cornell University’s NYS Integrated Pest Management Program, said reports of the insects have skyrocketed in the city in recent weeks.
“Reports have increased significantly in the past month as the adults have matured, since they are larger and more active than the nymph stages of the life cycle,” Leeser told The Post. “The biggest concern is transporting them to other areas where they are not yet established.”
New Yorkers have taken to squishing the tiny pests at the advice of officials, who recommend killing them to save crops in the region.
Outside Central Rock Gym on the Upper West Side, six crushed lanternflies laid dead on the pavement Wednesday — and workers inside said they’re taking no prisoners.
“Over the past couple of days [I’ve killed] maybe 10,” said Jenna Tseng, 21-year-old employee of the gym on West End Avenue near West 61st Street. “We all see them so often and stomp them so often. We were joking that we should keep a running tally.”
“I killed one outside of Starbucks this morning,” she said. “I don’t feel all that bad. They’re invasive. They’re kinda gross. There’s a ton of them. It’s not good for the environment. They don’t have complex thoughts and feelings. For me, it was a victory.”
Donna Matthews, a 56-year-old postal worker in the neighborhood, said she’s been inundated by the bugs on the job.
“Yesterday I was screaming when they were flying all over the place near me. I was screaming, ‘Oh my God,’” she said.
“There is a lot especially around this building 400,” she said, gesturing to 400 West 61st St, a skyscraper with reflective windows.
“You don’t see any of them in the projects. I deliver a lot to the projects and I’m trying to figure out why,” she said. “Maybe the rats eat them.”
New York City’s role as a major port, along with the bug’s steady diet of Trees of Heaven and other plants found in Central Park, make the city an ideal breeding ground for the bugs, experts said.
The inch-long flies have wreaked havoc on trees in Staten Island’s protected Greenbelt Nature trails, with photos showing the pests swarming trees and trail markers, according to the Staten Island Advance.
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And they’ve been showing up in droves in parts of New Jersey, including Newark and Jersey City, officials said.
“This is just the beginning of their invasion,” Ware said.
Spotted lanternflies, which first emerged in New York in 2020, are a threat to native plants and crops in the state — including grapevines, hops, apple trees and maple trees, according to the New York state Department of Agriculture.
The bugs have been reported in at least a dozen states, including as far west as Indiana and as far south as North Carolina, according to Cornell University researchers.
Earlier this month, Sen. Chuck Schumer said he wants to squish the state’s spotted lanternfly problem with the help of an extra $22 million in federal funds.
Other officials in the Northeast sounded the alarm against the winged intruders this week, urging people to kill them.
“Kill it! Squash it, smash it … just get rid of it,” the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture said in a “Spotted Lanternfly Alert.” “These are called bad bugs for a reason, don’t let them take over your county next.”
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