You may have seen viral posts screaming through your social media feed warning you about dangerous, invasive bugs that could hitch a ride right into your living room if you get a real Christmas tree.

Heck, I even fed into the hype last year.

But this year, experts are trying to tamp down the Christmas tree fear a little.

First of all, the spotted lanternfly, a destructive, invasive pest that was accidentally introduced to the area about 5 years ago, is real and it is a danger to the Garden State's ecology.

That much is fact.

But as to the hype that dozens or even hundreds of the pests could be hitching a ride on your Christmas tree, experts are saying probably not.

According to Pennsylvania's Lancaster Online, a Penn State University expert had this to say about the lanternfly's likelihood of setting up a home in your Christmas tree:

Because they are not attracted to evergreens, the chance they have laid their eggs on one would be low

The piece does go on to say that it's still a good idea to thoroughly eyeball your evergreen before bringing it inside just in case any more common bugs decided to hop on.

And on the off chance that your tree does have spotted lanternfly eggs attached, they say that you should, "scrape them off of the tree and squish them."

You can read much more about danger that the spotted lanternfly poses to New Jersey and familiarize yourself with photos by clicking here for a thorough article from Rutgers University's New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station.

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