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PLOS One logoLink to PLOS One
. 2021 May 3;16(5):e0250945. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0250945

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

Jennifer L Essler 1,*, Sarah A Kane 1, Amanda Collins 1, Kaley Ryder 1, Annemarie DeAngelo 1, Patricia Kaynaroglu 1, Cynthia M Otto 1,2
Editor: Ramzi Mansour3
PMCID: PMC8092771  PMID: 33939739

Abstract

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.

Introduction

The spotted lanternfly Lycorma delicatula (White) (Hemiptera: Fulgoridae) [1] is a planthopper insect native to China. It has since become an invasive species in the United States, first reported in 2014 in Pennsylvania [2, 3]. The spotted lanternfly feeds on both herbaceous and woody plants by eating the sap. This feeding can weaken and stress the plants, and further damage is induced by the sooty mold development that occurs after the plant gets covered with the honeydew, or sugary excrement, excreted by the spotted lanternfly, which can block photosynthesis on understory plants [4]. The spotted lanternfly feeds on a wide range of hosts, though they appear to have a strong preference for the tree of heaven, Ailanthus altissima (Sapindales: Simaroubaceae) [4]. Thus far, the estimated expected overall annual direct economic impact of spotted lanternfly damage on Pennsylvania agriculture is at least $42.6 million statewide. The most heavily impacted agricultural operations are nurseries, fruit growers, particularly grapes, and Christmas tree growers [5].

The spotted lanternfly lays eggs in one season per year, typically from September until early November, but has been seen as late as December in Pennsylvania. Egg masses contain 30 to 50 eggs, are covered in a yellow-brown waxy covering [3], and vary in size but are typically about one inch in length. Eggs are typically laid on trees, up to 17 meters above the ground on the tree of heaven, their most preferred host plant [6]. However, egg masses can be readily found on other substrates [7], including natural and unnatural items such as stone, automobiles, rail cars, and shipping pallets [4], all quite low to the ground (Fig 1A and 1B). Multiple egg masses can be found on each tree or substrate. These eggs overwinter, waiting out the winter season, and the nymphs are seen in May [3, 8]. There are many directions in which researchers and technical professionals in the field are taking to investigate potential ways to reduce the threat and spread of the spotted lanternfly [7, 9, 10], and this 5 to 8 month period in which the adults die out and the eggs overwinter is when the spread of these egg masses could most easily go undetected. Thus, implementation of tools which can prevent the spread of this species, in particular when they are in the egg stage, could be a promising pest management approach, reducing its serious damage on host plants.

Fig 1.

Fig 1

(A) Spotted lanternfly laying fresh eggs on tree bark. (B) Spotted lanternfly eggs with mud-like covering.

Detection dogs may be used to search out the spotted lanternfly egg masses during this overwintering period by screening cargo, rail and automobiles, among other items, for evidence of egg masses in order to limit transport of this invasive species. These transportation means have already been highlighted for their potential role in the spread of the spotted lanternfly [11], while railways in particular have been indicated as vectors for invasive species spreading in other species [12, 13]. Canines are used in many domains to detect different odors, including drugs [14], land mines [15], accelerants [16], hazardous materials [17], human scent trails [18], human remains [19], live animal scents [20, 21], and animal scat [22], among other things (see [20] for a review). Dogs have been shown to be useful tools in the detection of other insect egg masses, as Wallner and Ellis [23] showed that dogs could be trained to detect both the pheromones and the egg masses of the gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar L. (Lepidoptera: Erebidae). In that study, dogs were trained to find the gypsy moth egg masses initially in the laboratory, but eventually in a field setting, with success. Gottwald and colleagues [24] report that dogs can detect infections of citrus huanglongbing (citrus greening disease) long before the disease can be seen either visually or with alternative molecular methods. Lee and colleagues [25] were able to train dogs to find the invasive brown marmorated stink bug in the laboratory, as well as at field sites, during its overwintering. Moreover, the dogs are able to search areas with relative speed, compared to humans. Finally, though a variety of insecticides have been shown to be effective against the spotted lanternfly [26], this is not a solution for potentially infected areas such as buildings (inside) and many types of cargo, leaving a multitude of scenarios where detection dogs may be particularly helpful.

The most obvious hurdle in training dogs on spotted lanternfly egg masses is the lack of a training tool to do so. First, the egg masses are only found during part of the year before hatching in May [3], and second, housing of live egg masses likely incurs significant levels of biosecurity to ensure that the eggs are neither transported and released into new areas, nor that they reach temperature levels high enough to cause hatching outside of the quarantine zone [27]. One potential solution to this problem would be to train on dead egg masses, if the odor were similar enough that the dogs could transfer to live egg masses with relative ease.

In this study, we aimed to test whether detection dogs trained to detect dead spotted lanternfly egg masses could transfer this training to detecting live egg masses, spontaneously or with relative ease. Our first aim was to train the dogs to detect dead egg masses attached to bark as well as dead egg masses separated from the bark, to ensure that the dogs were using the egg mass odor to distinguish barks with masses attached from barks that were egg mass-free. If this training proved successful, we aimed to test whether the dogs would spontaneously detect live egg masses, both attached to bark as well as separated from the bark.

Materials & methods

Ethics statement

This study was approved by the University of Pennsylvania Institutional Care and Use Committee for university-owned canines (Protocol #806730) and privately-owned canines (Protocol #806741). All dogs lived with either a foster family or their owner and were brought into the center for training. Privately owned dogs’ owners signed an informed-consent form. All dogs’ participation for every session was considered voluntary, as they were allowed to refuse to participate at any time.

Subjects

Three trained detection dogs were used in this study. One dog was in training at the Penn Vet Working Dog Center, one dog was a graduate of the working dog center, and one was a privately-owned detection dog (Table 1). All dogs had previously been used in other odor detection studies at the center, or in their career. The previously trained odors as well as their trained final alert behaviors for each dog are listed. Training occurred up to three days (or three sessions) each week.

Table 1. Detection dogs used in this study.

Dog Sex Age Breed Trained Odors Final Response Status
Toby M 1.5 years Small Münsterländer UDC* Stand-Stare PVWDC Dog
Grizzly M 5 years German Shepherd Pottery Stand-Stare Private Dog
Pacy F 6 years Labrador Retriever Human Remains, Pottery Sit Private Dog

* All dogs at the Penn Vet Working Dog Center (PVWDC) are trained to search for odor using a training compound called Universal Detection compound (UDC) [28, 29].

Experimental setup

The target odor was placed in an 8-port stainless-steel scent wheel approximately 2.1 meters in diameter (Fig 2). Each of the eight arms held one port, and an attached steel plate to limit the scent cone overlap between ports. A random number generator was used to determine which port would hold the target odor for each trial, with all ports equally likely to receive the target sample once during each trial. However, it was never in the same port more than two trials in a row. Vinyl gloves were used when handling samples and touching the wheel, and gloves were changed between handling samples. The tops of the ports, where the dogs’ noses could touch, were wiped between trials with a paper towel to remove any excess saliva left while searching or performing their trained final response. The whole wheel was cleaned between dogs, and the room in which the wheel was located was cleaned daily, with 70% isopropyl alcohol.

Fig 2. Photograph of the 8-port stainless-steel scent wheel used in this study (manufactured by DEMAND (design & manufacture for disability), Abbots Langley, UK, http://www.demand.org.uk).

Fig 2

Ports which held the odors moved between arms of the wheel for example, in “1” there is a port present–all other arms are empty.

The wheel was located behind a barrier and monitored with a video feed so that all humans were out of sight of the dogs, and the dogs could not use any visual cues from the humans. Moreover, a white noise machine was played to help ensure that dogs could not use any auditory cues from the humans. Dogs were trained to search the scent wheel ports in order, and were not allowed to return back to odors (e.g. if a port was passed, they could not return to it), and all three dogs had previously been trained to identify a wheel without any target sample present (a blank wheel) by leaving the room, thus avoiding a forced-choice paradigm. Video records were taken for all trials, along with written records of the dogs’ behavior at each port. Three behaviors were noted on target odors: alert (the dog showed a full trained final response), hesitate (the dog spent more time at an odor but did not show a full trained final response), and pass (the dog passed the odor with no distinguishable change of behavior). If a dog showed a trained final response on a non-target odor, this was marked as a false alert. If the dogs hesitated at any odor, or gave a false positive, the behavior was ignored. If the dogs gave a trained final response at a target odor, the trainer could see it via the video feed, and would mark the behavior with an auditory marker (a clicker) and then reward the dog when it returned from the wheel (Fig 3). Alert was defined differently for each dog and depended on their prior training as well as final trained response behavior. Pacy with a sit behavior had to sit in front of the target port in order for it to be categorized as an alert. Grizzly and Toby each had a stand-stare response and were required to stand with their nose at port for average of three and four seconds, respectively, in order for it to be categorized as an alert (a stopwatch was utilized; trial by trial the alert length varied in order to ensure the dog was not waiting for a specific number of seconds). Hesitates referred to a change of behavior at the port that was distinguishable compared to the dog’s normal searching behavior, involving increased time spent at the port sniffing. Sniffing behavior has previously been shown as a relevant behavior to the odor type in detection dogs [30]. The experimenter, who set out the odors for each trial, was not blind to the placement of the odors.

Fig 3. Detection dog Toby giving a final response (stand-stare) at target odor.

Fig 3

Training target odor–dead egg masses

Egg masses scraped off bark (Fig 4A), as well as egg masses attached to bark (Fig 4B), were frozen in a -80 degree Celsius freezer for 96 hours to ensure that the eggs were dead. This was a duration that entomologists at the USDA felt confident would devitalize the eggs (Gregory R. Parra, USDA, Personal Communication). Training samples were kept in 16-ounce mason jars in a refrigerator maintained between 0 and 4 degrees Celsius when not being used for training. Dogs were trained on seven different egg masses attached to bark and one egg mass scraped from the bark. The egg masses attached to bark were from the A. altissima tree, while the egg mass scraped from bark was scraped from the Prunus serrulata (Rosales: Rosaceae), or Japanese flowering cherry.

Fig 4.

Fig 4

Pictures of the training target odor of dead spotted lanternfly egg masses–scraped eggs off bark (A) and eggs on bark (B).

Control odors

In order to ensure that the dogs were recognizing the odor of the egg masses specifically, controls were introduced immediately. The main control for this study was egg mass-free bark from the A. altissima tree (Fig 5), but we introduced barks from multiple other trees and plants as well, including: Fraxinus americana, mulberry tree from the genus Morus (Rosales: Moraceae), honeysuckle plant from the genus Lonicera (Dipsacales: Caprifoliaceae), cherry blossom trees from the genus Prunus, and Elaeagnus umbellata (Rosales: Elaeagnaceae). These were all trees or plants that the spotted lanternfly egg masses were seen on during sample collection, many of which have already been reported as host plants for this species [3, 31].

Fig 5. Picture of one of the control barks from Ailanthus altissima.

Fig 5

The number of bark controls placed into the wheel increased as the dogs became proficient at recognizing their target odor, until six of the other arms (less the one containing the dead egg mass, and one other control, see below) were bark controls. Barks from other plant species were introduced at various stages of the training, to ensure that the dogs continued to ignore mass-free bark generally, and only one new bark was introduced within each training session. As we were unsure whether the freezing process changed the odor of the egg masses as well as the bark, bark controls were presented that had gone through the freezing process as well as those that had not.

Other than the egg mass-free bark as a control, multiple other introduced controls included items that may have come into contact with the egg mass while they were being collected. These controls included plastic scrapers, gloves (vinyl and nitrile), plastic shipping material, paper towels, cardboard, tape, and plastic storage containers (Fig 6). These controls were clean and free of spotted lanternfly odor. Finally, after training on these controls, an egg mass from a separate species (European Mantis, Mantis religiosa (L.) (Mantodea: Mantidae)) was added to ensure the dogs were not alerting to insect eggs generally. These controls were presented multiple months after the last training session of the dogs, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, to determine whether they were generalizing insect egg masses as their target odor.

Fig 6. Picture of the non-bark controls, counterclockwise from top-left: Nitrile gloves, vinyl gloves, plastic scraper, cardboard, paper towels, plastic shipping material, tape, and pieces of plastic storage containers.

Fig 6

Imprinting & training

Imprinting refers to early stage odor discrimination training, where the dog is trained that it will be rewarded for sniffing or finding a particular odor. At the beginning of the training, two ports were placed on the floor, one that contained the target odor of dead egg mass on bark, and one that contained an egg mass-free piece of bark as a control. Dogs were imprinted on the target odor by clicking when the dog sniffed the target odor, while trainers ignored any interest in the control bark. On the first day, Pacy received 15 click on sniffs, Grizzly received 22 click on sniffs, and Toby received 17 click on sniffs. After this first day, no dog was imprinted with the odor on the floor or outside of the wheel. After this short imprinting session, the odors were placed in the scent wheel. If the dogs showed, either by a significant change of behavior or a trained final response, that they recognized the target odor in the wheel, clicking on sniff on the wheel was ceased. During imprinting, one port in the wheel contained the target odor, one port contained an egg mass-free piece of bark, and the other ports contained various non-bark controls.

Initially, one dead egg mass and one egg mass-free bark was used. One more bark control was added once the dogs were greater than 80% successful in a session. We defined success as passing all non-target odors, and showing a trained final response on the target odor, for each trial. Thus, in a 10-trial session, a dog must be successful on 8 trials to move on. Once dogs became proficient on the odor by recognizing this target odor from three other bark controls at 80% success over two consecutive sessions, two dead egg masses were used within each session. This was to ensure that the dogs were not following learning to identify or memorizing one specific odor sample, but following the dead egg mass odor more generally.

Testing odor–live egg masses

In order to investigate whether the odor of the dead egg masses, and the training the dogs had received, allowed the latter to spontaneously or quickly transfer to live egg masses, we presented the dogs with live egg masses in the same setup as their normal training setup. We presented two egg masses on bark and one egg mass scraped from the bark of two trees of the genus Morus, or mulberry (Fig 7A and 7B). These were taken opportunistically from trees located near to the research location. The rest of the scent wheel contained bark and other controls, seven total, as in the training, throughout all trials. As in training, the testing sessions included ten trials total. This initial work on live egg masses was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fig 7.

Fig 7

(A) Live egg masses on bark and scraped (B).

When the lab was able to re-open in the summer of 2020, we resumed training with the three dogs on dead spotted lanternfly egg masses one to two sessions per week, as live ones were no longer available (they were culled during the initial stages of the university lockdown). In October 2020, when live eggs became available, we carried out one test day where the dogs were presented with three novel live spotted lanternfly egg masses, paired with three matched controls of bark from the tree that these masses were taken from, as well as three further new bark controls, and two non-bark controls (gloves and alcohol). After this test day, dogs were trained on two sessions with novel live spotted lanternfly egg masses, matched controls of bark, and new bark controls, before they were given a second test day. Test days had five total double-blind trials, and where the handler was blinded to the location, as well as presence, of spotted lanternfly egg masses for each trial (some trials were ‘blank’). Due to having lower staffing from social distancing measures, training sessions at this point also had fewer sessions than before, typically five trials as well.

Analysis

Training sessions as well as testing sessions for the dogs were coded by two observers in The Observer XT (Version 14) by Noldus. Training sessions on dead spotted lanternfly prior to the switch to live SLF were coded for each dog (Grizzly = 9 sessions, Pacy = 11 sessions, Toby = 11 sessions), as well as training sessions on live spotted lanternfly before the lab closed for COVID-19 (Grizzly = 4 sessions, Pacy = 4 sessions, Toby = 5 sessions). One week’s worth of video from training sessions on live spotted lanternfly before the lab closed for COVID-19 were corrupted and unable to be coded. The two test and two training sessions after the lab returned in the summer were also coded, though one training session for Pacy accidentally not filmed and unable to be coded. Observers were blind to the condition (dead or live spotted lanternfly eggs), what odor was in each port, and coded the videos silenced so they could not hear the ‘click’ from the trainer. Coders coded for how long each dog spent at each port. Their agreement was high, with an ICC of 0.978.

We calculated the dog’s sensitivity (also known as ‘True Positive Rate’ or TPR, Eq 1) and specificity (also known as ‘True Negative Rate’ or TNR, Eq 2). These measures are calculated using the number of true positives (the dog correctly showed a final response on the target odor), the number of false negatives (the dog incorrectly passed a non-target odor), and the number of false positives (the dog incorrectly showed a final response on a non-target odor) the dog shows in each session.

Eq 1. Equation for sensitivity.

Sensitivity=#TruePositives(#TruePositives+#FalseNegatives) (1)

Eq 2. Equation for specificity.

Specificity=#TrueNegatives(#TrueNegatives+#FalsePositives) (2)

Results

All three dogs showed rapid improvement over the first ten sessions. For each session of ten trials for all sessions prior to the COVID-19 lockdown, sensitivity and specificity were calculated. Hesitates on egg masses were used only for informational purposes, and were always noted as incorrect (false negatives). All three dogs had at least one session where both measures were at or above 90%. Averaging all training sessions together, the dogs showed a high level of sensitivity (Grizzly 92.4%, Pacy 79.7%, Toby 94.6%) and specificity (Grizzly 89.3%, Pacy 85.2%, Toby 92.8%). However, there were differences between the three dogs in their levels of consistency. Both Grizzly and Toby were able to maintain relatively consistent performances across training, while Pacy was more variable with her performance (Fig 8A–8C). Pacy had 56 total false negatives compared to nine and 16 for Grizzly and Toby, respectively. The dogs did not show a trained final response on the mantis egg over multiple presentations at any point (Grizzly: 8 passes, Pacy 11 passes, Toby 9 passes).

Fig 8.

Fig 8

Graphs for the sensitivity and specificity for Grizzly (A, top left), Pacy (B, top right), and Toby (C, bottom).

All three dogs spent more time at ports which contained dead spotted lanternfly egg masses than either bark or other controls (Fig 9).

Fig 9. Duration that each dog spent at each port by what was in each port (either egg masses, bark, or controls) for dead spotted lanternfly egg masses during training.

Fig 9

Critically, for the investigation of whether dead egg masses could serve as a training aid for dogs to alert on live egg masses, all three dogs were able to recover their previous performance when the target odor was switched to live spotted lanternfly egg masses within very few sessions (Fig 8A–8C). Each of the three dogs first hesitated on the live egg masses, spending more time sniffing the sample but not giving a full alert at the odor (this was noted as a hesitation). The dogs were not marked at the hesitation, but sent back onto the scent wheel for a second pass. On their second pass, the dogs alerted to the live egg masses, without further imprinting or guidance from their trainers. The dogs alerted to both the live egg masses on bark as well as a live egg mass scraped off bark. Once they were rewarded for this odor, they returned to the same consistency that they showed before on the dead egg masses, over several sessions. Coded data showed that, during training sessions from prior to and post-COVID delays, as with dead spotted lanternfly egg masses, dogs spent more time at ports which contained live spotted lanternfly egg masses than either bark or other controls (Fig 10). This trend was maintained in the double-blind testing sessions as well (Fig 11), where each spotted lanternfly egg mass presented was novel and paired with novel bark controls, thus not allowing the dogs to ‘follow’ any specific target previously rewarded. When tested the second time on fresh spotted lanternfly egg masses, they had not seen fresh egg masses in eight months.

Fig 10. Duration that each dog spent at each port by what was in each port (either egg masses, bark, or controls) for live spotted lanternfly egg masses during training.

Fig 10

Fig 11. Duration that each dog spent at each port by what was in each port (either egg masses, bark, or controls) for live spotted lanternfly egg masses during the two double-blind testing sessions, where each spotted lanternfly egg mass presented was novel and paired with novel bark controls.

Fig 11

Discussion

In this study, we have shown that detection dogs trained on dead spotted lanternfly egg masses were able to transfer, though not completely spontaneously, to finding live spotted lanternfly egg masses, both attached to bark as well as scraped from bark without additional odor imprinting. We found that training the dogs to recognize that their target odor was the egg masses, not bark, was the most difficult, though most important, part of the training process for distinguishing the correct odor. Based on the experience with these dogs, dead spotted lanternfly egg masses are an appropriate training aid for detection dogs aiming to find live spotted lanternfly egg masses.

Though the dogs did not spontaneously transfer from the dead spotted lanternfly egg masses to the live ones, the training with the dead egg masses initially allowed for time to train the dogs to distinguish the target odor from the background odor of tree bark without having to maintain live egg masses on-site. This solves two problems in the training process of these dogs: it allows for training outside of the affected areas (where it would be more of a risk to maintain live eggs for training), and it allows for training outside of the time of the year when live egg masses are available. Thus, paired with the quick transfer to live eggs, the dead spotted lanternfly eggs are a potential training tool for these detection dogs. The COVID-19 pandemic gave us a second chance to test the dogs on spontaneous transfer from dead to live spotted lanternfly egg masses. As we had to take a long hiatus from training, we destroyed all of our live egg masses for the summer, causing us to wait until new egg masses were laid in the fall for further training or testing. The dogs performed well on live spotted lanternfly egg masses, spending over three times longer at ports with egg masses than with bark and five times longer than at ports with non-bark controls, even after not having seen live eggs for eight months and only sporadically training on dead egg masses once we could resume limited social-distanced training. Another option might be to utilize analytical chemistry methods, such as gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, in order to train on scent extract, as was done with another insect species [21]. However, if one is training dogs in an area that is currently under quarantine, and thus there is no risk of spreading the spotted lanternfly to a new area, it may be possible to start the training with live eggs, assuming it is the right time of year.

One dog had difficulty learning the task, and in general could not reach the proficiency and consistency of the other two dogs. This suggests that individual differences between dogs affect the learning process for this odor or task. There is overwhelming evidence in the detection dogs that variability between dogs can affect training as well as eventual success and placement into careers [3234]. Our training data here suggest that this is true also for potential spotted lanternfly egg detection dogs and may lead handlers to choose different types of dogs for the task. Wallner and Ellis [23] found similarly that some dogs were not appropriate for a similar task with gypsy moth egg masses, and eliminated one dog from their training to focus on the other dogs.

The small sample size, with just three detection dogs going through this training may limit the generalizability to all dogs. However, the different breeds, ages and personalities of the dogs in this study suggest that there may be application to a variety of detection dogs. We were able to document success in all three dogs through training and testing on this odor, and small sample sizes are often used in detection dogs studies, especially during proof of concept [17, 23, 35, 36]. Now that the dead spotted lanternfly egg masses have been shown to be an appropriate training aid, further studies might consider adding more subjects in order to investigate potential differences between dogs’ abilities, either through training or in the field work.

The dogs did not learn to just show a final response to insect eggs. After being trained, the dogs were presented with a praying mantis egg mass, and did not show interest in the control odor. Though we were not able to present a number of non-spotted lanternfly egg masses as controls throughout the training process, the fact that the dogs did not show interest in it post-training suggests that they learned the odor of spotted lanternfly egg masses specifically, at least compared to one other species. Future research might investigate whether more closely related insect species’ egg masses might be odors for which the dogs should be confirmed to ignore before being utilized in the field.

One limitation to this study is that it did not test the effectiveness of these dogs on their ability to find the egg mass target odor in a real-world scenario, outside of a laboratory setting, after training on this method. Though this was largely outside of the scope of this study, where the aim was to identify a training odor for potential spotted lanternfly detection dogs, we can make some inferences based on our knowledge of detection dogs. We know that dogs have been successful across many types of scent detection [37], including specifically searching cargo [38] and cars [39], which suggests that dogs may be successful in those scenarios when searching for the spotted lanternfly egg masses as well. Moreover, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture has now deployed their first spotted lanternfly detection dog to search for egg masses throughout the quarantined counties in their state [40]. Thus, the results presented here may allow this and other future spotted lanternfly detection dogs to train with a safe and effective training aid.

Supporting information

S1 File

(XLSX)

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the staff, interns, and volunteers of the Penn Vet Working Dog Center for their invaluable help in the training and care of our canines and facilities. We would like to thank Amber Bolli for help with coding. We would also like to thank Gregory R. Parra and his team at the USDA for advice, as well as Emily Fricke and her team from the PA Department of Agriculture, for providing samples for training and testing. We would finally like to thank Dr. Julie Urban for her comments on the manuscript.

Data Availability

All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files.

Funding Statement

CMO received USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) grant AP19PPQS&T00C206 which funded this project. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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Decision Letter 0

Ramzi Mansour

16 Feb 2021

PONE-D-21-02181

Egg masses as a training aid for spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) detection dogs

PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Essler,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

==============================

Throughout the manuscript, the authors focused more on the dogs used to detect egg masses of the spotted lanternfly, but they forgot in some parts to highlight important aspects supported by relevant references (biology, behavioral ecology, host plants,...) linked to the invasive insect, target of the present study. This might be obvious (but not sufficient to reach article acceptance) considering the authors are not entomologists. Therefore, it is mandatory to make major revisions regarding this issue through using correct entomological terms and aspects, adding all missing info, and deleting redundant and confusing statements. Furthermore, the potential field effectiveness (and possible natural constraints) of the detection method being investigated here should be discussed by the authors. All reviewers' comments are stated below.

==============================

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We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Ramzi Mansour

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Partly

**********

2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: N/A

Reviewer #2: N/A

**********

3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: 02/04/2021

Spotted lanternfly (SLF) is an exotic pest of various agricultural and forest crops in North America. The current research deals with the potential of dogs in the detection of the egg masses. It’s an exciting small study that could offer a new tool for the fast and reliable survey of this pest. It should be of interest to this journal. However, the entire manuscript suffered from the lack of discipline in writing. Mistakes in the description of SLF biology will also need to be corrected before it can be considered for publication.

Major concerns:

1. Write scientifically by using clear and concise sentences. Stay focus on the subject matter for each paragraph. Exclude unrelated information. Don’t mix up information from different subjects, e.g., information belongs to Material and Methods should not be included in Results, etc. I have made some suggestions below, but more thorough editing is needed to improve the manuscript.

2. Understanding none of the authors were trained in entomology, critical review of the manuscript from a qualified entomologist is strongly recommended to ensure proper use of nomenclature and correct description of other facts about this pest.

3. The introduction portion of SLF biology (ln 55-72) need a complete overhaul, with the first paragraph focus on hosts and damages, and the second paragraph on life cycle and egg stage.

4. SLF egg masses are mostly found on tree trunks and upper branches, with a small proportion on stones and other nonliving substrates on the ground. I do not see canines being actively used to detect egg masses in real field situations. Maybe more useful in cargo and commodity inspections as part of the quarantine enforcement?

5. How do you match the controls? Ideally, you should match target odor with control odor from the same tree species for both dead and live egg masses. Was that how you set up the trials? More explanation is needed.

Specific comments:

1. No need to credit photos taken by one of the co-authors.

2. ln 1. Should be “Egg mass” not “Egg Masses”.

3. ln 33-34. Awkward writing. Rephrase please.

4. ln 56. “Vietnam”. Not true anymore. Delete.

5. ln 57. “eating the phloem”. Not true. SLF is a sap feeder. Also, there is no need to include the definition of phloem.

6. ln 58-60. Awkward writing. Rephrase please.

7. ln 65. Confusing.

8. ln 84-86. This does not belong here. Move to the last paragraph n introduction as part of the study objectives.

9. ln 109-111. This should be included in the “Ethics Statement” with a few more words on the use of the canines.

10. ln 196-197. Citation needed.

11. ln 284-286. Delete. Already described in M&M.

12. ln 310-314. These equations belong to M&M, not here.

13. ln 359. “immediately spontaneously”. Awkward wording. Re-word.

14. ln 362-365. Good point.

15. ln 373-375. Would be interesting to see what’s responsible for the scent extract.

Reviewer #2: In this study, the authors present detection dogs as a method to find Lycorma delicatula egg mass. Throughout the manuscript, the methodology of training detection dog is presented and analyzed well. Nevertheless, the manuscript contains two major issues to be resolved before the article is to be published: an in-depth consideration of the target organism itself and detection efficacy of the method in the field.

First, although the paper focuses on the training method of detection dogs, it does not have deep enough consideration on the target organism itself. Although the paper describes general phenology of the insect, we were unable to find information on the oviposition behavior or characteristics of egg mass itself, which is the target of detection. For example, what is the major oviposition host plant of L. delicatula, or at which height or substrate are the egg masses often be found? Without the considering the biology of L. delicatula and its egg mass, we may not be able to apply the method in the field.

Second, there is no field testing of the method presented in the study. As L. delicatula lays eggs on a variety of substrates including metal fence or host plants, the efficacy of the method may vary on the environment. Furthermore, recent study suggests that L. delicatula eggs can be found on tree-of-heaven or black walnut trees from up to 18 m above the ground (Liu and Hartlieb 2020). Especially, most favored egg heights were 8-10 m for tree-of-heaven and 4-6 m for black walnut. In this case, can dogs detect eggs at this height, or even if it does, is there a way to confirm its presence? The paper at least should address a more in-depth concerns on lack of efficacy experiment.

The following contains comments on the manuscript:

Manuscript

1) L65 – 72: Although the paragraph describes oviposition of L. delicatula, it lacks a more in-depth information on egg mass, which is the target of detection. For example, what is the most preferred host plant/ substrate? How big is an egg mass? Is there just one egg mass per tree or can more than one egg mass be found? What are the characteristics of the egg mass substrate (height/ surface texture etc.)

2) L407 – 412: It describes that further research is required to test the efficacy of the detection method. Nevertheless, we would appreciate if this can be described in more details. For example, how confident are you that the method will work perfectly outdoor as well? Where would you find L. delicatula egg masses and what potential factors may limit the application of the methods? Also, if you find them, what is to be done for control of the egg masses? Limitation of the manuscript needs to be discussed in more detail.

3) Few editorial corrections are to be made in references – scientific names of insects need to be italicized

**********

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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PLoS One. 2021 May 3;16(5):e0250945. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0250945.r002

Author response to Decision Letter 0


22 Mar 2021

The following is included with proper formatting in the "Response to Reviewers" file.

Reviewer #1: 02/04/2021

Spotted lanternfly (SLF) is an exotic pest of various agricultural and forest crops in North America. The current research deals with the potential of dogs in the detection of the egg masses. It’s an exciting small study that could offer a new tool for the fast and reliable survey of this pest. It should be of interest to this journal. However, the entire manuscript suffered from the lack of discipline in writing. Mistakes in the description of SLF biology will also need to be corrected before it can be considered for publication.

Major concerns:

1. Write scientifically by using clear and concise sentences. Stay focus on the subject matter for each paragraph. Exclude unrelated information. Don’t mix up information from different subjects, e.g., information belongs to Material and Methods should not be included in Results, etc. I have made some suggestions below, but more thorough editing is needed to improve the manuscript.

Thank you, the manuscript has been edited for clarity.

2. Understanding none of the authors were trained in entomology, critical review of the manuscript from a qualified entomologist is strongly recommended to ensure proper use of nomenclature and correct description of other facts about this pest.

We have spoken with Dr. Julie Urban, who works with SLF extensively, and have made comments based off of her reading of the manuscript as well. She is also acknowledged the acknowledgments.

3. The introduction portion of SLF biology (ln 55-72) need a complete overhaul, with the first paragraph focus on hosts and damages, and the second paragraph on life cycle and egg stage.

4. SLF egg masses are mostly found on tree trunks and upper branches, with a small proportion on stones and other nonliving substrates on the ground. I do not see canines being actively used to detect egg masses in real field situations. Maybe more useful in cargo and commodity inspections as part of the quarantine enforcement?

It is true that since the drafting of this MS and the introduction of an SLF detection canine by PA Dept of Ag, implementation of this work has been utilized in cargo and commodity inspections as well as nurseries. We have modified the manuscript to better capture that.

5. How do you match the controls? Ideally, you should match target odor with control odor from the same tree species for both dead and live egg masses. Was that how you set up the trials? More explanation is needed.

In general, with the training sets, we did not always have the knowledge of the exact tree that a mass was from. We did include controls of the same species of tree. In particular with the double-blind testing, the controls were from the same exact tree as the egg mass. This is now more clearly expressed in the manuscript.

Specific comments:

1. No need to credit photos taken by one of the co-authors.

Photo credit has been removed.

2. ln 1. Should be “Egg mass” not “Egg Masses”.

Reworded title.

3. ln 33-34. Awkward writing. Rephrase please.

Modified writing.

4. ln 56. “Vietnam”. Not true anymore. Delete.

Thank you – removed.

5. ln 57. “eating the phloem”. Not true. SLF is a sap feeder. Also, there is no need to include the definition of phloem.

Given our discussion with Dr. Urban we have modified this section and the information on the SLF generally.

6. ln 58-60. Awkward writing. Rephrase please.

Modified.

7. ln 65. Confusing.

Modified.

8. ln 84-86. This does not belong here. Move to the last paragraph n introduction as part of the study objectives.

This sentence is about the Wallner and Ellis study from the prior sentence and has been modified to be clearer.

9. ln 109-111. This should be included in the “Ethics Statement” with a few more words on the use of the canines.

We have added an “Ethics Statement” section within the Methods section of the manuscript.

10. ln 196-197. Citation needed.

We have updated this sentence and added a citation.

11. ln 284-286. Delete. Already described in M&M.

Deleted.

12. ln 310-314. These equations belong to M&M, not here.

Moved.

13. ln 359. “immediately spontaneously”. Awkward wording. Re-word.

Removed “immediately”.

14. ln 362-365. Good point.

15. ln 373-375. Would be interesting to see what’s responsible for the scent extract.

Reviewer #2: In this study, the authors present detection dogs as a method to find Lycorma delicatula egg mass. Throughout the manuscript, the methodology of training detection dog is presented and analyzed well. Nevertheless, the manuscript contains two major issues to be resolved before the article is to be published: an in-depth consideration of the target organism itself and detection efficacy of the method in the field.

First, although the paper focuses on the training method of detection dogs, it does not have deep enough consideration on the target organism itself. Although the paper describes general phenology of the insect, we were unable to find information on the oviposition behavior or characteristics of egg mass itself, which is the target of detection. For example, what is the major oviposition host plant of L. delicatula, or at which height or substrate are the egg masses often be found? Without the considering the biology of L. delicatula and its egg mass, we may not be able to apply the method in the field.

We agree with this comment, and have reframed the introduction to describe search scenarios that dogs are more likely to be utilized for, including nurseries, cargo, and automobiles, rather than trees specifically where, it is true, many of the egg masses are far too high up for the dogs to (likely) be especially effective.

Second, there is no field testing of the method presented in the study. As L. delicatula lays eggs on a variety of substrates including metal fence or host plants, the efficacy of the method may vary on the environment. Furthermore, recent study suggests that L. delicatula eggs can be found on tree-of-heaven or black walnut trees from up to 18 m above the ground (Liu and Hartlieb 2020). Especially, most favored egg heights were 8-10 m for tree-of-heaven and 4-6 m for black walnut. In this case, can dogs detect eggs at this height, or even if it does, is there a way to confirm its presence? The paper at least should address a more in-depth concerns on lack of efficacy experiment.

We agree with this and like above, it is unlikely that dogs used for this will be searching trees, but rather cargo, rail and cars, among other lower items. We have included in the introduction more specifics about the likely implementation of these dogs, once trained.

The following contains comments on the manuscript:

Manuscript

1) L65 – 72: Although the paragraph describes oviposition of L. delicatula, it lacks a more in-depth information on egg mass, which is the target of detection. For example, what is the most preferred host plant/ substrate? How big is an egg mass? Is there just one egg mass per tree or can more than one egg mass be found? What are the characteristics of the egg mass substrate (height/ surface texture etc.)

We have modified and added to the introduction significantly, including these suggestions.

2) L407 – 412: It describes that further research is required to test the efficacy of the detection method. Nevertheless, we would appreciate if this can be described in more details. For example, how confident are you that the method will work perfectly outdoor as well? Where would you find L. delicatula egg masses and what potential factors may limit the application of the methods? Also, if you find them, what is to be done for control of the egg masses? Limitation of the manuscript needs to be discussed in more detail.

We have modified the discussion to include more appropriately the likely use of detection dogs in this arena, and how the data presented here may help future spotted lanternfly detection dogs.

3) Few editorial corrections are to be made in references – scientific names of insects need to be italicized

References have been modified.

Attachment

Submitted filename: SLF_MS_ResponseToReviewers.docx

Decision Letter 1

Ramzi Mansour

6 Apr 2021

PONE-D-21-02181R1

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

PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Essler,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

Please submit your revised manuscript by 20 April 2021. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

Please include the following items when submitting your revised manuscript:

  • A rebuttal letter that responds to each point raised by the academic editor and reviewer(s). You should upload this letter as a separate file labeled 'Response to Reviewers'.

  • A marked-up copy of your manuscript that highlights changes made to the original version. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Revised Manuscript with Track Changes'.

  • An unmarked version of your revised paper without tracked changes. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Manuscript'.

If you would like to make changes to your financial disclosure, please include your updated statement in your cover letter. Guidelines for resubmitting your figure files are available below the reviewer comments at the end of this letter.

If applicable, we recommend that you deposit your laboratory protocols in protocols.io to enhance the reproducibility of your results. Protocols.io assigns your protocol its own identifier (DOI) so that it can be cited independently in the future. For instructions see: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/submission-guidelines#loc-laboratory-protocols. Additionally, PLOS ONE offers an option for publishing peer-reviewed Lab Protocol articles, which describe protocols hosted on protocols.io. Read more information on sharing protocols at https://plos.org/protocols?utm_medium=editorial-email&utm_source=authorletters&utm_campaign=protocols.

We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Ramzi Mansour

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Journal Requirements:

Please review your reference list to ensure that it is complete and correct. If you have cited papers that have been retracted, please include the rationale for doing so in the manuscript text, or remove these references and replace them with relevant current references. Any changes to the reference list should be mentioned in the rebuttal letter that accompanies your revised manuscript. If you need to cite a retracted article, indicate the article’s retracted status in the References list and also include a citation and full reference for the retraction notice.

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

**********

2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: 03/26/2021

All previous concerns have been properly addressed by the authors. Therefore, I recommend its publication by the journal with a few minor changes below:

1. At the first citation of a genus/species, authority, order, and family should be given in parentheses.

2. Be consistent when using the insect or plant names, e.g., don’t not use “The spotted lanternfly” in one sentence, and use “SLF” in another.

3. ln 33. Replace “The spotted lanternfly” with “It” since it was used in the previous sentence.

4. ln 192-193. I believe the correct common name for Prunus serrullata is Japanese flowering cherry.

5. ln 271, 274, 277, etc. acronym “SLF” was not defined and therefore should not be used.

Reviewer #2: Overall, the authors revised the manuscript according to the comments made by the reviewers. Once the following minor points are addressed by author, the manuscript is ready to be published.

First, this is a minor recommendation that may improve the manuscript. Because the paper focuses on detection of L. delicatula egg mass on artificial substrates including cargo, rail, and automobiles it may strengthen the importance of screening for these substrates by highlighting the potential spread of L. delicatula via these transportation means. This can be done by 1) citing different invasive insects that rapidly expanded its geographical range by hijacking trains and automobiles, 2) citing previous studies that observed potential L. delicatula dispersal via train (Flight Dispersal Capabilities of Female Spotted Lanternflies (Lycorma delicatula) Related to Size and Mating Status, Wolfin et al. 2019).

Second, the authors must describe the order and family of an insect when first mentioning its scientific name for all the insects. E.g. Lycorma delicatula (Hemipera: Fulgoridae). Also, if scientific name of an organism has already been mentioned, abbreviate its generic name in second time. E.g. Ailanthus altissima -> A. altissima.

Finally, the following comments address some minor editorial changes to be made and confusing sentences that need to be rephrased.

1. Ln 55: missing a period

2. Ln 68: space

3. Ln 72 – 75: confusing. Rephrase.

4. Ln 82 – 84: rephrase

5. Ln 101 – 104: add references

6. Ln 107 – 109: rephrase

7. Ln 360 – 362: rephrase

**********

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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Attachment

Submitted filename: Review_PlosOne.docx

PLoS One. 2021 May 3;16(5):e0250945. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0250945.r004

Author response to Decision Letter 1


12 Apr 2021

Reviewer #1

All previous concerns have been properly addressed by the authors. Therefore, I recommend its publication by the journal with a few minor changes below:

1. At the first citation of a genus/species, authority, order, and family should be given in parentheses.

We have added (Order: Family) for each insect and tree species noted in the manuscript, on their first citation.

2. Be consistent when using the insect or plant names, e.g., don’t not use “The spotted lanternfly” in one sentence, and use “SLF” in another.

We have replaced “SLF” in the manuscript with spotted lanternfly.

3. ln 33. Replace “The spotted lanternfly” with “It” since it was used in the previous sentence.

Replaced.

4. ln 192-193. I believe the correct common name for Prunus serrullata is Japanese flowering cherry.

Thank you – replaced.

5. ln 271, 274, 277, etc. acronym “SLF” was not defined and therefore should not be used.

The acronym “SLF” was removed throughout the manuscript and replaced.

Reviewer # 2

Overall, the authors revised the manuscript according to the comments made by the reviewers. Once the following minor points are addressed by author, the manuscript is ready to be published.

First, this is a minor recommendation that may improve the manuscript. Because the paper focuses on detection of L. delicatula egg mass on artificial substrates including cargo, rail, and automobiles it may strengthen the importance of screening for these substrates by highlighting the potential spread of L. delicatula via these transportation means. This can be done by 1) citing different invasive insects that rapidly expanded its geographical range by hijacking trains and automobiles, 2) citing previous studies that observed potential L. delicatula dispersal via train (Flight Dispersal Capabilities of Female Spotted Lanternflies (Lycorma delicatula) Related to Size and Mating Status, Wolfin et al. 2019).

Specific highlight of this species (and invasive insects in general) using railways as a means of transport has been added to the introduction, thank you.

Second, the authors must describe the order and family of an insect when first mentioning its scientific name for all the insects. E.g. Lycorma delicatula (Hemipera: Fulgoridae). Also, if scientific name of an organism has already been mentioned, abbreviate its generic name in second time. E.g. Ailanthus altissima -> A. altissima.

Thank you – the order and family for the spotted lanternfly were added, and scientific names were abbreviated where necessary.

Finally, the following comments address some minor editorial changes to be made and confusing sentences that need to be rephrased.

1. Ln 55: missing a period

2. Ln 68: space

3. Ln 72 – 75: confusing. Rephrase.

4. Ln 82 – 84: rephrase

5. Ln 101 – 104: add references

6. Ln 107 – 109: rephrase

7. Ln 360 – 362: rephrase

Thank you – all of the above have been modified.

Attachment

Submitted filename: SLF_PLOSONE_ResponsetoReviewers2.docx

Decision Letter 2

Ramzi Mansour

19 Apr 2021

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

PONE-D-21-02181R2

Dear Dr. Essler,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication (please see ADDITIONAL EDITOR COMMENTS below) and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

An invoice for payment will follow shortly after the formal acceptance. To ensure an efficient process, please log into Editorial Manager at http://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/, click the 'Update My Information' link at the top of the page, and double check that your user information is up-to-date. If you have any billing related questions, please contact our Author Billing department directly at authorbilling@plos.org.

If your institution or institutions have a press office, please notify them about your upcoming paper to help maximize its impact. If they’ll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team as soon as possible -- no later than 48 hours after receiving the formal acceptance. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information, please contact onepress@plos.org.

Kind regards,

Ramzi Mansour

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments:

The following minor revisions should be made by the authors on the PROOFS of their accepted article, before its publication:

L2 (Title): delete the brackets (replace "(Lycorma delicatula)" with "Lycorma delicatula"

L33 (Abstract):  to avoid repetition, replace "The spotted lanternfly feeds"  with  "This insect feeds"

L33-34:  replace "severe damage to vineyards and leaves a sooty mold that"   with  "severe damage in vineyards such as the occurrence of sooty mold fungus that"

L35: replace "It eggs that"  with  "It lays eggs that"

L39: change "this overwinter period"  to  "the overwintering period"

L53: add the authorship "(White)" to the species and delete the brackets as indicated here: The spotted lanternfly Lycorma delicatula (White) (Hemiptera: Fulgoridae)

L 56: change to  "and further damage is induced by"

L57: delete the “ ” (this should be written: the honeydew without “ ” )

L69: change to "their most preferred host plant [6]"

L71: delete the " . "  after  "ground"

L73-74: replace "and those in the field are taking" with "and technical professionals in the field are taking"

L78:  replace "could make a significant impact on this problem" with "could be a promising pest management approach, reducing its serious damage on host plants"

L84: change to "during the overwintering period"

L93: add the authorship "L." to the species: Lymantria dispar L.

L94: In that study, dogs

L96: of citrus huanglongbing (citrus greening disease) long before

L207: plant from the genus

L212: write the full species as this is a caption: "Figure 5. Picture of one............from Ailanthus altissima"

L216-217: Barks from other plant species were introduced at

L227: add the authorship "(L.)" to the species: Mantis religiosa (L.)

L261: allowed the latter to spontaneously or

L264: genus Morus

L269: there are no letters "A" and "B" on this Figure 7, please add both letters, and change the caption to "Figure 7A-B. (A) Live egg masses on bark and (B) scraped.

L311: All three dogs showed rapid

L325-326: add the three letters "A" , "B" and "C" on the Figure 8 (no letters can be seen on this figure)

L407 : delete "generally"

L419: delete "generally"

Reviewers' comments:

Acceptance letter

Ramzi Mansour

22 Apr 2021

PONE-D-21-02181R2

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

Dear Dr. Essler:

I'm pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been deemed suitable for publication in PLOS ONE. Congratulations! Your manuscript is now with our production department.

If your institution or institutions have a press office, please let them know about your upcoming paper now to help maximize its impact. If they'll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team within the next 48 hours. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information please contact onepress@plos.org.

If we can help with anything else, please email us at plosone@plos.org.

Thank you for submitting your work to PLOS ONE and supporting open access.

Kind regards,

PLOS ONE Editorial Office Staff

on behalf of

Dr. Ramzi Mansour

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Associated Data

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    Attachment

    Submitted filename: SLF_MS_ResponseToReviewers.docx

    Attachment

    Submitted filename: Review_PlosOne.docx

    Attachment

    Submitted filename: SLF_PLOSONE_ResponsetoReviewers2.docx

    Data Availability Statement

    All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files.


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