Seven years ago, spotted lanternflies captured everyone’s attention in New Jersey as the colorful, but destructive, insects from Southeast Asia invaded the state.

They soon spread to multiple counties in large numbers.

Now those spotted pests aren’t drawing as much hype. While some towns and cities haven’t seen too many spotted lanternflies this summer, the insects are still thriving in other areas .

In the past couple of weeks, beach-goers in Belmar said they had some company when they walked along the sand — lots of spotted lanternflies.

The spotted insects were also crawling around on the boardwalk, said Bill McKim , a longtime Belmar resident and business owner.

“They haven’t been as bad as years past, but for some reason they seem to like (the boardwalk),” McKim said. “Ma

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