# Talk:Spotted lanternfly

"Treatment may control a pest" The Philadelphia Inquirer, August 28, 2019, page B1.
Article says that two fungi can kill the spotted lanternfly.
Sorry, I am unable to do more with this information.--Dthomsen8 (talk) 00:30, 29 August 2019 (UTC)

I am considering cleaning this article up and submitting it to a GAN. Are there any major, outwithstanding issues that need to be addressed? Please list any suggestions below and please refer to Wikipedia:Good article criteria for any questions about content. I plan to have it ready within the next few weeks. Etriusus (talk) 21:37, 17 December 2021 (UTC)

This review is transcluded from Talk:Spotted lanternfly/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.
Reviewer: Esculenta (talk · contribs) 23:11, 3 January 2022 (UTC)
Hello, I will undertake this review. Should have comments here in the next few days. Esculenta (talk) 23:11, 3 January 2022 (UTC)
Ok, here are some initial  thoughts. I tend to be a nitpicky reviewer, and some of my comments might go beyond the bare minimum GA-criteria, so take these as friendly suggestions rather than obligations! I haven't looked at sources yet; will do that in a later read.Esculenta (talk) 00:38, 6 January 2022 (UTC)

Esculenta, I have finished the first rounds of edits. I tried to incorporate your recommendations as best I could (If there was any issue, I put a note below). I know that not all of them were necessary but the article looks substantially better with all the new content. I also reorganized a couple of sections to cut down on excessive headers. For the images, I added a different template for aesthetic purposes and incorporated 4 images. For the links, I gave it a solid attempt but there are likely 1 or 2 I missed. I will likely need to C/E this a little bit still to iron out all the nuances but that will have to wait till tomorrow (as it is getting late in my part of the world). Please send any more feedback on the article if you have it. Etriusus (talk) 04:20, 12 January 2022 (UTC)
 Done Lead
 Done the well-known countries shouldn’t be linked per MOS:OVERLINK
 Done host, introduced should be linked, as well as the names in the author citations in the taxobox
I think I did this properly, may need clarification. The phrasing was a bit strange.
 Done the redlinks of the two mystery predators are jarring and make the lead less reader-friendly by introducing extra Latin words that few will understand. What kinds of pathogens are those?
 Done currently, too much emphasis is placed on invasive pest in the US aspect. The lead says nothing about, for example, its life cycle or what it looks like. It should be a better balanced summary of the article contents. (see WP:LEAD)
Made an attempt, cut down on the invasive section substantially, and made it more general. Added basic life cycle and host information.
 Done this sentence has some grammatical problems: “Ongoing pest control efforts have sought to limit population growth and prevent further spread due to the threat L. delicatula possess the United States' and Canada's grape, fruit tree, and logging industries.”
 Done Taxonomy and/or Systematics
 Done section currently missing; should have something here to meet GA criteria #3a ("it addresses the main aspects of the topic")
 Done if it was originally Aphaena, why is it now Lycorma?
 Done what’s the story with those subspecies? Who published them and when? Are they still considered taxonomically valid?
 Done what does deliculata mean? Why was that epithet applied to this species? How about jole and operosa?
 Done any story with the synonym Aphaena operosa Walker, 1858? Who says this is a synonym? (a citation should be in the "synonyms_ref" parameter in taxobox)
 Done has any molecular phylogenetic work been done with this species? Do we know its closest relative(s)?
 Done might want to mention it was originally collected by George Tradescant Lay, and maybe a few words about what White said about it for interest. For example, he discusses the difficulty in capturing them, and mentions a resemblance to Aphaena variegata (is that still a valid species?)
Added a taxonomy section. I tried to hit most of the points on here as well as I could. There was limited information I could find. Technically, the name change from Aphaena to deliculata was descriptive since the subfamily is Aphaeninae and therefore still related fairly closely. I did find a year and also confirm that the subspecies are still valid (L. Deliculata is a collective term for the species as a whole).
 Done Description
 Done ”The spotted lanternfly is originally native to parts of China, India, Vietnam, and Taiwan.” - shouldn’t be in the description; rather it should be in a separate section or subsection where its native range is discussed (see comment below)
 Done ”and measuring about 25 mm (0.98 inches) long and 12 mm (0.47 inches) wide.” its a bit jarring to have a measurement described as “about”, and then give two significant figures in the convert output; try 25 mm (1 inch) long and 12 mm (0.5 inches) wide
 Done ”It was originally described by Adam White in 1845 as Aphaena delicatula with habitat outside of Nankin, China.” this should be in the missing taxonomy section
 Done ”Adult lanternflies have a black head and gray-brown forewings adorned with the eponymous black spots.” I don’t understand how the word “eponymous” fits here.
 Done suggested links: abdomen, valvifer, distal, gravid
 Done no mention of the orange antennae? the hemelytra? How many spots on a wing? (all this info available in White's original description)
since the spotted lanternfly is a true bug, the forewings and hemelytra are the same thing.
 Done ”In traditional Chinese medicine, the spotted lanternfly is believed to be poisonous, and is used topically for relief from swelling.” should not be in a description section; link TCM
 Done in general, the links throughout should be tightened; there are several duplicate links, and some instances where a linked word should have been linked earlier (e.g. host)
 Done are there other insects with which this species might readily be confused? How different is it from the other members of its genus?
I found a few anecdotes here and there but nothing that is encyclopedic enough to add. I've settled on a happy medium of listing its most closely related species in the taxonomy section.
 Done Host associations, Life cycle & others
 Done suggested links: photosynthesis, molting, metabolite, overwintering, fitness
”Whether the lanternfly can complete its life cycle on any host other than A. altissima is unclear, and further experiments are planned in the US.” this is sourced to a 2009 Korean study (I think; it’s the next following citation), suggesting perhaps these experiments have already been done?
 Done fix ”L. delicatula has been theorized to be capable of maintained a small population in the region although no specimen have yet been discovered.”
 Done ”The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture has been recommending based on information from PennState Extension:” reads awkwardly. I think the entire first paragraph would read better if it wasn’t numbered, but instead converted to smooth prose.
 Done links: insecticidal soap, sticky trap, vector
 Done the abbreviation PDA should be introduced on first use of the abbreviated term
 Done ”Unfortunately, in lab settings” The first word is editorializing, which should be avoided in encyclopaedic writing.
 Done Dryinus sinicus and Ooencyrtus kuvanae should be linked, and it would be nice to know what kind of pathogens they are (insects? fungi? predaceous Tardigrades?)
 Not done”it is being investigated in South Korea” not really correct wording for a publication that appeared in 2016
While yes this one study was done in 2016, the implication is that the research is still ongoing, as implied by the conclusions section of the sourced articles.
 Done Japan is mentioned in the second sentence of the lead as a place where it has been introduced, but is not mentioned again in the rest of the article.
 Done the external links section is longish and should be culled; some links are already being used as sources, and at least 1 returns a 404; some of them might not meet WP:ELNO #1
 Done so the insect is native to China, India, Vietnam, but the article is mostly slanted towards its global existence outside of these countries. Do the Chinese/Indians/Vietnamese also view this insect as a pest, and have they suffered economic losses from it? Any interesting cultural depictions or symbology?
Done to the best of my ability. There is relatively little evidence, and what exists is somewhat contradictory, that the bug is even native to countries outside of China. I've fixed the other sections to reflect this.
 Done the lead says the insect is native to parts of China, India, and Vietnam, but the article does not tell me these parts. China, in particular, is a big place.
 Done And then someconsider combining the two similar infestation pictures into a double image (see template:multiple image, which would leave room for another of the excellent images available on Commons (e.g. this)
Looking good! I took the liberty of doing some copyediting and added some links, but feel free to revert anything you don't agree with. Since you asked for more feedback, I dug into some other sources to see what might be missing. The www.cabi.org seems to have quite a few details about its description, distribution, biology and ecology that aren't in the Wikipedia article and maybe should be; please have a look. What do you think about adding some stuff from these sources? Esculenta (talk) 21:14, 13 January 2022 (UTC)

Esculenta, thanks for all the extra content. I will begin adding it to the article within the coming week. Is there anything else that needs to be done for the GAN? Etriusus (talk) 01:51, 18 January 2022 (UTC)
 Done doi:10.1111/j.1748-5967.2008.00188.x?  This has some interesting taxonomic history, the meaning of its Chinese and Korean vernacular names, and more information about its introduction in Korea, etc.
 Done this source doi:10.1093/ee/nvz166 discusses the most effective traps to catch them
 Donedoi:10.1016/j.jip.2021.107689 indicates another two species of fungi that can infect the insect
 Done using “detection dogs” to find egg masses during overwintering doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0250945 {{doi}}: unflagged free DOI (link)
 Done what do you think about adding Figure 1. from doi:10.1093/ee/nvab107 this work into the wikipedia article? It perfectly illustrates the sizes of the life cycles, and it's public domain because its US-government created.
 Done use of infrared thermography to detect spotted lanternflies in the field doi:10.1007/s10340-021-01338-7
 Done a detailed biomechanical study on how these insects fall, land, and right themselves! doi:10.1098/rsif.2021.0367
 Done the modelling used in this study doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-400798/v1 suggests that the insect has potential for range expansion in Australia
Hi Etriusus, we're getting to the end. Here's some more comments. Esculenta (talk) 16:49, 19 January 2022 (UTC)

Esculenta, Done. Kicking the article back to you.Etriusus (talk) 02:49, 26 January 2022 (UTC)
 Done the taxobox indicates that the species has a “temporal range” dating back to the Ypresian, which is sourced to a paper on fossil ants. I can’t access this paper; could you please check to see if it actually supports the temporal assertion? If so, it should probably be mentioned in the article as well.
Found a substantially better source, swapped them out. I underestimated the Herculean task this would become, lol. The original article sorta worked but I found something much more concrete.
 Done the subspecies are now mentioned in the text, but it doesn’t say what characteristics these taxa have, nor if they are currently used or still considered taxonomically valid. The authors of the subspecies should be given in the taxobox.
So I cannot find any sources explicitly describing the physical differences between the subspecies. A few sources imply that it may be based upon distribution but since the native range of Lycorma delicatula is difficult to map due to its rapid expansion, I have elected to not include it for the sake of avoiding confusion. Taxobox is fixed.
Also, do you want me to explicitly state that the subspecies are taxonomically valid, or did you just want me to double-check? I added an extra citation that says they were valid, and the classification was reviewed and kept validated in 2015.
That's good, thanks. Esculenta (talk) 00:06, 27 January 2022 (UTC)
 Done I think the description should mention the size difference between adult male and females. What does the posterior end of the male look like? How much of its 1-year lifespan does the insect spend in the adult stage?
 Done there's some details about reproductive biology in the Cabi site that should be included, eg., courtship & copulation; eggs undergoing diapause, then requiring 2 weeks of warm weather; longer-overwintering eggs having better synchronous hatching & better hatch rates
Cabi link: [[1]] (this is for my own reference) Etriusus (talk) 05:57, 24 January 2022 (UTC)
 Done many of the citations lack important bibliographic details, like publication date, authors, etc. I added these for the “Taxonomy and discovery section” per here; could you check the rest?
I offer a couple of final nits as I promote the article:

”In 1863, the species was reclassified as Lycorma delicatula delicatula, with two additional subspecies described:” the taxobox suggests that Lycorma delicatula operosa was described in 1858, not 1863
"systemic pesticides" should gloss a definition for this; had to search around a bit to find out what this meant
GA review (see here for what the criteria are, and here for what they are not)
It is reasonably well written.
a (prose, spelling, and grammar):  b (MoS for lead, layout, word choice, fiction, and lists): 
Prose is fine; article broadly meets standards of MOS.
It is factually accurate and verifiable.
a (reference section):  b (citations to reliable sources):  c (OR):  d (copyvio and plagiarism): 
Sources are reliable, and appropriate for this type of article; several were checked against the statements they supported with no issues found.
It is broad in its coverage.
a (major aspects):  b (focused): 
Article has broad coverage with appropriate level of details.
It follows the neutral point of view policy.
Fair representation without bias: 
Yes
It is stable.
No edit wars, etc.: 
Yes
It is illustrated by images and other media, where possible and appropriate.
a (images are tagged and non-free content have fair use rationales):  b (appropriate use with suitable captions): 
All images have licenses making them available for use in this article, they are used appropriately, and have useful captions.
Overall:
Pass/Fail: 
Article passes GA review. Good work! Esculenta (talk) 00:06, 27 January 2022 (UTC)

What do people think about adding in a sentence indicating that adults usually die after the first or second frost in winter in climates where it gets that low https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-95376-x Corevette (talk) 19:44, 19 September 2022 (UTC)

Is there text you're specifically citing about overwintering in the paper? I only see one mention of winter, and it's just that adults laying eggs into early winter in some instances. Might be better to pull directly from overwintering studies on this subject if anything is going to be added. KoA (talk) 20:39, 19 September 2022 (UTC)

The entire "Potential benefits" section is sourced only to an article published on the Atlas Obscura website. Much of what Atlas Obscura publishes is user-submitted content and should not be considered reliable per WP:UGC. However, Atlas Obscura also publishes staff-written articles. I think the articles posted under https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles (which include this cited source) are staff-written, but I am not sure. My gut reaction is that this "potential benefits" section seems a bit dubious or at least undue. —⁠ ⁠BarrelProof (talk) 16:41, 21 September 2023 (UTC)

@BarrelProof I looked into it. There is reliable evidence that bees use honeydew excrement to make honey. That being said, I agree that it is WP:UNDUE to give it a level 1 heading. 🏵️Etrius ( Us) 21:30, 24 September 2023 (UTC)

Could someone knowledgeable add this important description variable? 2604:2D80:8E81:9100:E922:4147:B407:8668 (talk) 12:46, 26 July 2024 (UTC)

Encountered this yellow-billed cuckoo feasting on lanternflies a few days ago. Word on the street is that while the standard food source for lanternflies -- the tree of heaven -- supposedly makes them taste bad to most birds, in their introduced areas they may be finding new food sources and/or birds may be adapting to recognize them as plentiful, slow-moving snacks. This cuckoo ate probably 20 by itself in the time I was watching it. Is it worth adding one of these to the article? (Photo, not my unsourced word on the local ornithology/entomology streets). 

— Rhododendrites talk \\ 01:59, 1 September 2024 (UTC)
@Rhododendrites, it's worth keeping an eye on but I haven't seen it come across in any literature. These are excellent pictures, I see one's on the yellow-billed cuckoo article. Giving it a quick review: Wasps, Dustywings, generalist predators (e.g. cardinals and spiders), Chickens all predate on lanterflies, its been a few years since the GA review for this article so it needs some updating. I'll file it under 'I get to it when I get to it'. 🏵️Etrius ( Us) 18:54, 19 September 2024 (UTC)