Honeydew for honey bees? Noticed lanternflies, Lycorma delicatula — Bug of the Week

Whereas honeydew generally refers to a tasty model of doughnuts or scrumptious sort of melon, in ento-speak honeydew is the sugar-rich liquid waste of sucking bugs like aphids, scales, and lanternflies that squirts from their anus. Honeydew is derived from a vascular tissue of vegetation known as phloem which many sucking bugs devour. Earlier this 12 months we met one other sucking insect, the cicada, that feeds on a distinct vascular tissue known as xylem. Cicadas course of nice volumes of xylem fluid and excrete copious quantities of watery liquid waste, creating a mild bathe beneath bushes on which they congregate and feed. Beforehand, we reviewed the intense financial risk noticed lanternflies pose to grape growers, orchardists, and most people, whose lanternfly-infested bushes might be fouled by lanternfly honeydew. Financial losses related to lanternflies in Pennsylvania are presently estimated to exceed greater than 50 million {dollars} yearly and are anticipated to solely improve as lanternflies unfold.

 As we stood in a mild honeydew bathe, we had been chagrined by the range and variety of stinging bugs profiting from the sugary bounty supplied by lanternflies. Paper wasps, yellowjackets, and hornets greedily collected and sometimes battled over droplets of honeydew. Some even waited close to the rear-end of lanternflies, apparently for contemporary deliveries. One glad customer to the honeydew bonanza was our good friend the industrious honey bee. Because the day warmed and lanternflies amped up honeydew manufacturing, rising numbers of honey bees had been recruited to this wealthy sugar supply. This can be some excellent news for our beleaguered bee pals. There’s rising concern that honey bees face a dearth of nectar and pollen meals sources, particularly late within the rising season in temperate areas of our land.  Maybe honeydew produced by noticed lanternflies can function a novel carbohydrate supply for our struggling bees. Wouldn’t it’s good if noticed lanternfly, an invasive pest, supplied some lemonade and never simply lemons in its new house right here within the US?