I'm Larry on WNYC and we'll close out the show today with everything you need to know

in the last week of summer about lantern flies.

Who has a summer of 23 lantern fly story or a question?

212433 WNYC.

Why do we ask?

Well, if you've stepped outside of your home in our area recently,

there is a big chance you stepped on at least one spotted lantern fly,

maybe bad accident, maybe on purpose.

Right now these bugs are everywhere.

They're gathering in masses in front of buildings in some cases

and flying on to unsuspecting pedestrians, sometimes inducing panic among the antibug crowd,

not to mention the threat that they may actually pose to certain kinds of trees.

Early in the summer, news outlets began reporting that we might see an uptick

in the presence of these pesky bugs and at this point in late summer,

it seems those predictions have come to fruition.

Now while spotted lantern flies aren't new,

the sheer number of them swarming around our area cannot be ignored.

We're going to get to the bottom of this and see if there are any new findings

regarding their invasiveness, the threats they may or may not pose

as well as proper ways to handle infestations in our backyards.

Joining us now is Jessica Ware, entomologist, associate curator in invertebrate zoology

at the American Museum of National Natural History,

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