LIFE CYCLE

The spotted lanternfly is univoltine species, meaning that it has one brood a year (1). 

Adult spotted lanternflies lay their eggs in the fall (2). 

The egg masses overwinter and hatch in late spring when the temperature gets warm enough, shown below.

 

From May until June, the small black and white nymphs feed and grow until they molt into the mature 4th instar nymph which has a red coloration with black markings and white spots. This occurs in late June and July.

Once the 4^th stage nymphs grow large enough, they molt into the adult stage. In July, adult spotted lanternflies emerge from their exoskeleton. At first, they are pale and soft, but their exoskeleton quickly hardens and gains its coloration, shown below.

The adults appear around July and will survive until it gets too cold in the fall.

1. Kelly Murman, Gregory P Setliff, Cathryn V Pugh, Michael J Toolan, Isaiah Canlas, Stefani Cannon. Distribution, Survival, and Development of Spotted Lanternfly on Host Plants Found in North America, Environmental Entomology, Volume 49, Issue 6, December 2020, Pages 1270–1281, https://doi.org/10.1093/ee/nvaa126.

2. Spotted Lanternfly in Virginia. Department of Entomology | Virginia Tech. (2021, April 12). https://www.ento.vt.edu/4-H_Entomology/SpottedLanternfly.html.