The spotted lanternfly is an example of a current biosecurity threat, that while native to China, it was discovered for the first time in US territory in 2014. It has spread across several states in the Northeast, and efforts have been made to control its spread over fears of environmental and economic damage.

It is crucial to understand the volatile organic compounds emitting from this target source to better direct canine training paradigms in order to prevent false alerts and to understand potential volatile markers of importance indicative of this specie. Currently, the majority of research surrounding L. delicatula involves evaluation of pest control measures such as traps, pesticides, or various mitigation efforts, therefore, the goal of this study is to focus on the evaluation of the headspace vapor sampling of lanternfly eggs via the instrumental approach of solid-phase microextraction with gas chromatograph-mass spectrometry (SPME-GC/MS). There are currently no previous methods for extracting VOCs from the spotted lanternfly, and this study presents the first attempt at the chemical characterization of this specimen. This study utilizes dead spotted lanternfly eggs and relevant insect and distractor (tree bark) samples to compare and identify volatile odor signatures.

Headspace SPME sampling was utilized to extract and collect the volatile organic compounds from the headspace above all samples. Once the extraction procedure was complete, the fibers were analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Prior to any extraction procedure, both lanternfly egg and related samples were thawed at laboratory room conditions for 1 hour before SPME fiber injection. A 24-hour headspace extraction was performed after samples were at room temperature followed by the chromatographic analysis.

The developed SPME-GC/MS method proved to be a valid and reliable approach for VOC analysis of target samples. The preliminary results indicate that lanternfly egg and cricket samples share a common VOC, dodecane, while the lanternfly egg and bark samples share anisole as a common odor volatile. Differences in shared compound abundance and other detected VOCs within each sample set depicted distinctive odor profiles for each matrix tested. This study provided an initial snapshot of the VOC makeup of L. delicatula, as well as other distractor odors, that can aid in the development of a canine training aid for early detection and mitigation strategies.

Nathaniel Hall

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