Egg masses as training aids for spotted lanternfly Lycorma delicatula detection dogs

The spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) is an invasive species first detected in 2014. The insect feeds on plants causing severe damage in vineyards such as the occurrence of sooty mold fungus that impairs leaf photosynthesis. Currently, there is extensive research on how to track and ultimately prevent the spread of this species. It lays eggs that persist through the winter, while the adults die out, which presents a unique opportunity to enter infested or suspected infested areas to begin quarantine and management of the spread while the species is dormant. Detection dogs may be a tool that can be used to search out the spotted lanternfly egg masses during this overwintering period, however it is not known whether dogs can detect any specific odor from the spotted lanternfly eggs. Moreover, as the eggs are only available during certain times of the year, and hatch based on temperature, finding training aids for the dogs could prove difficult. In this study, we investigated whether three detection dogs could learn the odor from dead spotted lanternfly egg masses and if so, whether that would allow them to recognize live spotted lanternfly egg masses. We found that dogs could be trained to find dead spotted lanternfly egg masses, and could learn to ignore relevant controls, with high levels of sensitivity and specificity (up to 94.6% and 92.8%, respectively). Further, we found that after the training, dogs could find live spotted lanternfly egg masses without additional training and returned to previous levels of sensitivity and specificity within a few sessions. Coded videos of training and testing sessions showed that dogs spent more time at the egg masses than at controls, as expected from training. These results suggest that dead spotted lanternfly egg masses could be a useful training aid for spotted lanternfly detection dogs.