NEWSLETTER
02/22/96 Entomology and Nematology News - Vol. 1, No. 5
A University of Florida Publication

AWARDS

Wendy L. Meyer was awarded the Warren Wood Sr. Memorial Fellowship scholarship from the Dade County Agri-Council for $1000. This is to support her Ph.D. research on Caribbean fruit fly (Anastrepha suspensa) under the direction of Drs. Baranowski and Heath .

Bob Stewart has been awarded a Doctoral Dissertation Enhancement Grant by the National Science Foundation. He will spend two months at the University of Dundee (Scotland) and Rothamsted Experimental Station (England) working with Dr. Alison Blackwell and Dr. John Pickett on the "Electrophysiological and behavioral responses of the salt marsh biting midge, Culicoides mississippiensis, to holly volatiles."

WWW AWARD

Dr. Tom Sanford received three (out of four) stars from Magellan, an internet directory maintained by the McKinley Publishing Group, for his APIS Newsletter WWW Site. Sanford's APIS Newsletter has been distributed across the Internet for almost as long as there has been an Internet. The APIS site is available from the Department's home page, under the Publications button.

WWW HOME PAGE GRADS

Clay Scherer became the first student in the department to post his c.v. in the department's home page. Interested students should contact Skip Choate.

FACULTY, STAFF, AND STUDENTS NEWS

Service pins were awarded at the staff meeting on February 5, 1996. Congratulations to the following USPS employees, Five years service: Dr. Alejandra (Ale) Garcia Maruniak (Maruniak), Lisa A. Huey (Stimac), Raquel McTiernan (Hall); Twenty years service: William R. Carpenter (Cromroy), Diana K. Simon (Butler), Frank E. Woods (Dunn); Twenty fine years service: Myrna J. Litchfield (Johnson/Strayer); Thirty years service: Annie L. McAshan -retired- (Mitchell).

Dr. Tom Sanford was an invited speaker at the recent meeting of the American Beekeeping Federation in Portland, Oregon. In the face of snow, rain and 50 m.p.h. winds, Dr. Sanford delivered a presentation on beekeeping 1996 and beyond, a futuristic look at the apiculture industry. He was also able to surf the web to several sites of interest to beekeepers, including his APIS page.

Dr. James P. Cuda attended the IX International Symposium on Biological Control of Weeds from 21-26 January 1996 in Cape Town, South Africa. He presented the poster: "Prospects for Biological Control of Weedy Sesbanias (Leguminosae) in the Southeastern United States"

Dr. Cuda was invited to participate in a workshop on "Hydrilla: Current Management Strategies & Research Direction" held in Tallahassee, January 24. The workshop was sponsored by the DEP Bureau of Aquatic Plant Management and UF Center for Aquatic Plants. He gave a status report on biological control research at UF and taught a session on "Biological Control of Aquatic Weeds" for a short course on Aquatic Plants and Their Control on 8 February. This training program is sponsored by the Florida Mosquito Control Association and is part of the Plenary Dodd Short Courses. The two-day short course was designed to improve the knowledge base for resource managers involved in aquatic plant management.

PUBLICATIONS

Accepted for publication by the Annals of the Entomological Society of America: Wobachia in a predator-prey system: 16S rDNA analysis of two phytoseiids (Acari: Phytoseiidae) and their prey (Acari:Tetranychidae). Denise L. Johanowicz and Marjorie A. Hoy.

KANAPAHA BOTANICAL GARDENS

Once again this year, ENSO is setting up a tent and participating in the Annual Spring Garden Festival at Kanapaha Botanical Gardens on Saturday, March 30 and Sunday, March 31. The Festival is a two-day event promoting plants, the environment, gardening and education. Last year's festival attracted over 12,000 people. ENSO needs your help with ideas for the booth and to help set-up, take down, and work a few hours during the festival. All interested staff, graduate AND undergraduate students, please participate. A sign-up sheet will be posted in the graduate student office. Set-up will begin on 12:00, Friday, March 29. For more information please contact Doug Burkett at 374-5828.

WOOLY WORM WEATHER

According to the Wooly Worm Festival held in Banner Elk, N.C., the wooly worm weather forecasters have not been overly surprised by the blast of winter we have had this year! You see, they predict the weather according to the bands on the caterpillars. Each of the 13 bands correspond to a week of winter.

The festival's winning "worm," Casey, from Bradenton, Florida, gave the following forecast. (Starting with the week of December 22, 1995 and extending until the vernal equinox, 13 weeks later): "The first five bands are coal black, indicating five weeks of below-normal cold with lots of snow. The next five bands are dark brown, indicating five weeks of normal winter weather. And the final three bands are coal black again, indicating a last burst of below-normal cold and abundant snow to wrap up the last three weeks of winter."

There, you heard it here! Reading worms is an Appalachian art and is practiced in its highest form by octogenarians and Banner Elk Mayor Charlie Voncanon who learned the ritual from his grandfather. (Via Dr. Strayer from Blue Ridge County, Vol IV (1): 19-31, 1996).

BUGGY SOFTWARE

FAMU now has a Public Health Pest web site developed by the John A. Mulrennan, Sr. Research Laboratory (JAMSRL), Florida A&M University. These WWW pages provide information on lab's publications on mosquitoes, Culicoides, stable flies, biological control of mosquitoes and nontarget impacts. The Pesticide Environmental Impact Section of JAMSRL has made a public database on impacts of mosquito control pesticides on nontargets, which includes impacts on honey bees, aquatic macroinvertebrates, birds, mammals, algae, etc. More than 1,100 references may be viewed by type of pesticide and nontarget taxon. Contact: Dr. Noor S. Tietze at (904) 872-4370 e-mail: tietzen@mail.firn.edu. See http://www.pherec.org

GRADUATE STUDENT COUNCIL

Julieta Coulliette is the official departmental graduate student representative to the G S C for the 95-96 school year. She can provide the forms for travel grants to any student going to a meetings and presenting a paper.

She would also like to remind everyone that the Graduate Student Forum application deadline is on 22 February. The Forum will be on 27 March and she encourages everyone to attend to the one-day event.

FES AWARDS, GRANTS, AND SCHOLARSHIPS

The FES will award three $500 scholarship grants to students majoring in entomology or a related discipline. The application requirements are: 1) The student must be a member of the FES and a full-time student with at least one year remaining in his or her degree. Application from undergraduate students will be considered. 2)The application should include a transcript, letters of recommendation from two faculty members, a curriculum vitae, a statement from the student about his or her future plans in the field of entomology.

Mini-grants: The FES will award ten mini-grants of $100 each to student members for entomological research. Applications should consist of one page description of the research and a statement of the intended use for the grant.

Student Paper Contest: In order to be eligible for the paper awards, follow normal paper procedures and note that the paper is for the student contest.

Application packages for the scholarships and mini-grants and travel grant requests should be mailed by June 15, 1996, to Joe Eger, Chair, Student Activities Committee, DowElanco, Suite 789, One Metro Center, 4010 W. Boy Scout Blvd., Tampa, FL 33607-5728 ph. (813) 874-1200.

BUG TASTING

Looking for a good inexpensive protein food source? Then check out the recipes at: http://www.ent.iastate.edu/misc/InsectsAsfood.html. Next month we'll examine a site with a dozen good recipes for nematode soup.


A hard copy of this newsletter is given to department members in Building 970 only. All others can obtain an electronic subscription by joining the listserv.

The next newsletter will be published Friday, March 15. Deadline for contributions is Monday, March 11.

Editor: Enrique Perez

This version of the newsletter is published for the Web by Tim McCoy.


February 1996. Updated March 2003.