The invasive spotted lanternfly has been identified in Illinois for the first time, the Illinois Department of Agriculture said Tuesday.

Environmentalists across the state have long dreaded the arrival of the nuisance species, notorious for its spotted red and brown wings and the threat it poses to the more than 70 types of fruit trees and other plants it is known to consume. The East Asian insect was first identified in Pennsylvania around eight years ago and has been making its way west with rides hitched on railroad cars, semitrucks and other vehicles.

It has worked its way into Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Iowa.

[ Spotted lanternfly making its way west, bringing sticky residue and threats to grapes, fruit trees ]

“Spotted lanternfly has been inching closer to the Midwest and Illinois for close to a decade,” said Agriculture Department Director Jerry Costello II in a news release Tuesday. “We have had a multi-agency team working to prepare for this scenario — including efforts on readiness, informing and educating the industry and the public, as well as monitoring early detection.”

Reports of a live spotted lanternfly in Illinois were first received by the state Agriculture Department on Sept. 16. Officials from the federal, state and local governments visited the site and identified a “moderately populated area,” according to the release. The investigators collected specimens and received results Tuesday that confirmed the species had arrived.

The confirmation of the pest’s arrival appears to have been spurred from a spotting by a resident in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood. Lisa Burns noticed the bug when she was walking her dog near North Broadway and Briar Place, she told the Tribune on Tuesday.

It had already been smashed into the middle of the sidewalk, its distinctive wings — bright red, eye-catching — spread wide. It looked just like the insect she said she had seen people deride and smash in TikTok videos.

“Oh my God, is that a spotted lanternfly,” she recalled saying.

She hadn’t heard about the pest arriving in Illinois yet. She searched online but found no news announcing its advent. She asked her wife to go back and take a photo of the bug.

“It has to be in Illinois. This can’t be the first one,” she said she was thinking.

She reported the bug to the state’s spotted lanternfly sighting email hotline. Investigators, who confirmed Burns’ sighting with the Tribune, told her to collect a specimen.

“Thanks to whoever had killed it!” Burns later wrote in a Reddit post sharing the photo.

There is no reason to believe widespread plant or tree death will result from the insect’s presence, said Scott Schirmer, the Agriculture Department’s nursery and northern field office section manager.

“This is likely going to be a nuisance pest that interferes with our ability to enjoy outdoor spaces and may have some impact on the agritourism industry, including orchards, pumpkin patches, and vineyards,” Schirmer said.

The insect moves easily on trains, wood surfaces, products and more, making it hard to contain, the news release said.

“Prevention and early detection are vital to limiting its ability to move and intrude upon new areas,” it continued. “We need the public’s help to look for and report this pest, and to also strengthen the outreach about it. It will likely impact everyone in Illinois one way or another, so the more awareness we have the better.”

Authorities encouraged people who see the bug to report sightings to [email protected] — and to crush it. Illinoisans should also check their vehicles and outdoor gear for bugs and eggs and destroy them if found, the release said.

The state Agriculture Department is trying to determine how widely the pest has infested the state, it continued.

The spotted lanternfly has become the target of kill-on-sight requests in places including New York City, where it swarms outside buildings and lands on pedestrians, all the while secreting a sticky “honeydew” substance that can cling to outdoor furniture.

It’s known to feed on plants that grow apples, peaches, cherries, hops and grapes. It also feeds on trees including maple, oak, walnut, sycamore, pine and willow.

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“It’s not likely to kill a tree on its own, but if the tree is already weakened by drought stress or disease, an infestation by spotted lanternflies could be the knockout punch,” Tricia Bethke, forest pest outreach coordinator at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle, said in a Tribune report last year.

[ Invasive spotted lanternfly can wreak havoc on wineries, beer hops and your desire to go outside. And Illinois bug experts are on the hunt. ]

The pest will be a “major burden to outdoor recreation,” predicted Kim Kalosky, a resource specialist with the Forest Preserves of Cook County, in an interview with the Post-Tribune last year.

Kalosky pointed to the hundreds of miles of trails and countless picnic areas around the county.

“If we have the type of infestation that’s happening out east in some counties, people are not going to want to be outside,” she said.

The Associated Press contributed.