From cars to boats and bricks to lumber — just about everything kept outside of homes and businesses in a quarantined 13-county area in eastern Pennsylvania — must be free of spotted lantern flies before it can be moved out of the area.

The state quarantined the area in July to prevent the nonnative insect, which harms trees and grapevines by feeding on sap, from expanding their invasion by hitchhiking to new areas like Butler County.

“It's able to get in vehicles and get in people's belongings. They lay their eggs on any hard surface. That means any patio sets you might take to a football game for tailgating. The potential to spread is high. It's a great hitchhiker,” said Heather Leach, the Penn State Extension's lanternfly associate.

Two adult lantern flies were found last week in different counties in New York, one was found in a vehicle in Delaware, and New Jersey has a confirmed population, she said.

Native in China, India and Vietnam, the spotted lanternfly was first found in Pennsylvania in Berks County in 2014.

“Right now they're contained to the 13 counties (in Pennsylvania). I have not heard of any reports in Butler or in that part of the state,” Leach said.

The bugs feed on tree fruit such as apples and peaches and the sap of grapevines, hops and hardwood trees like red and silver maple, birch and black walnut. The non-native tree of heaven, grapevines and black walnut trees are their preferred food sources, she said.

“But they feed on almost anything. The entire landscape is a buffet for the spotted lanternfly,” Leach said.

Their voracious appetites have caused a lot of damage.

“We've seen a lot of economic damage in a lot of industries. Wineries in southeastern Pennsylvania and vineyards have seen damaged grapes reducing harvest quality and yields, and in some cases killing vines,” Leach said. “The timber industry could be affected in the north and northeast Pennsylvania.”

No documented cases have been found of spotted lantern flies feeding on agricultural crops like corn and soybeans, but they are known to eat forage crops that cattle eat.

“If they're toxic, cattle could be harmed by eating them, but that is a subject of ongoing research. We're not sure if they are toxic to cattle,” Leach said.

Since spotted lantern flies are not native, they have no predators in the United States.

However, they are susceptible to most insecticides.

“The good news is they are easy to kill. Many insecticides work,” she said.

Gray egg masses, which can be deposited on trees, concrete blocks, rocks and other hard surfaces, should be scraped off and placed in a container with hand sanitizer or rubbing alcohol to kill them. They can also simply be smashed and burned.

In the spring, homeowners can put sticky tape on tree trucks to stop the insects from climbing up and causing damage, Leach said.

Adults, which are about an inch long and a half-inch wide and sport red rear wings, mate and lay eggs now in late summer.

The adults do not survive the winter, but the egg masses are hardy enough to survive and hatch in the spring. Newborn nymphs have black and white spots.

Anyone traveling from the quarantine zone should carefully check all belongings for insects and never remove firewood from the zone.

“Burn it where you buy it,” Leach said.

Anyone finding a spotted lanternfly should report it to the Penn State Extension online or by calling the spotted lanternfly hot line at 1-888-422-3359.

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, the following counties are currently under quarantine to stop the spread of the spotted lantern flies:BerksBucksCarbonChesterDelawareLancasterLebanonLehighMonroeMontgomeryNorthamptonPhiladelphiaSchuylkill