Southern Delaware residents are being asked to be on the lookout for the spotted lanternfly, an insect detrimental to Delaware’s agricultural industry, forests and residential areas.

The species is a destructive and invasive planthopper that attacks many hosts, including trees, shrubs, grapes and hops.

Five years after the state’s first confirmed spotted lanternfly was found in New Castle County, it has made its way to Sussex, triggering a statewide quarantine, the Department of Agriculture said Tuesday.

Quarantine means that residents, businesses or municipalities cannot move any material or object that could harbor the pest without taking precautions to prevent the spread. Adult insects can fly, hop or drop onto vehicles — meaning this pest can be easily transported to areas where it can create another infestation.

Effective Tuesday, agriculture officials have expanded a quarantine to include Sussex County due to established populations of spotted lanternflies in Georgetown, Milford, Seaford, Ocean View and Rehoboth Beach.

“It is practically impossible to eradicate the spotted lanternfly because of its status as a hitchhiker bug,” said Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Nikko Brady. “For a small state, our spotted lanternfly program has done an excellent job in fending off the spread of this invasive insect for five years and are just now finding it in Sussex County.”

In March 2019, the Agriculture Department quarantined those ZIP codes in New Castle County where established populations of reproducing spotted lanternflies were found. The quarantine was expanded in September 2019 to include all areas of New Castle County north of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal and finally included the entire county in July 2020.

Kent County was put under quarantine in October 2020, after populations of the insect were found in Smyrna, Dover and Harrington.

Since the initial population was found, DDA has partnered with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to conduct assessments. The state has treated 23,721 acres with insecticides or herbicides to reduce the insects’ numbers.

Further, once the females began laying eggs in fall 2021, the program scraped 90,147 masses with 30-50 eggs in each, significantly reducing this year’s population.

Due to quarantines in other states, interstate commerce will be impacted if the pest is transported out of Delaware. Therefore, officials are focused on properties that are pathways for the movement of spotted lanternflies, including highways, railways, public transportation and distribution centers. Inspectors use the tree of heaven, an invasive necessary for spotted lanternflies to reproduce, to search for the insect.

Residents can treat nymphs and adults from May to November and destroy egg masses from December to May. Homeowners can also hire professional applicators to treat their properties.

Anyone conducting business for a commercial company, a municipality or a government agency that requires movement of any regulated item within or from the quarantine area must have a permit, available here.