October 30, 2026
The Story of the Spotted Lanternfly
Kill it; Smash it
By Matthew Bamberg
Strolling on the High Line, New York City's West Side magic carpet, a slick 1.5-mile elevated walkway that refreshes. Among gardens, giant brick walls of colorful graffiti, and sculptures, small-yet-powerful action figures hide in cornered terraces. The complex insect is my focus.
It's dead.
I gaze at my New Yorker host. "They're bad, really bad!" he chuckles.
The spots on the wings, the red on its exoskeleton, and the complex wingspan thrill me.
As a paradox arrives from the other side of the world, the insects spread, eating crops and laying eggs.
The bugs lay sticky liquids of eggs, sometimes in the very place they die, a horror story of plant life destruction.
"But they're pretty," I explained.
My friend gazes at me, without words. I take a close-up picture with my Nikon, the moment, a part of history.