December 2007
Faculty News
See Professor Emeritus Dr. Malcolm T. Sanford in Greetings! being staged at Gainesville's Acrosstown Repertory Theater (http://acrosstown.org/). This is a show about the season and transformation. See an article on the play at writeup at: http://www.gainesvillesun.com/article/20071206/NEWS/712050310/1006/NEW.
Student News
Ph.D. student Jim Dunford successfully defended his dissertation "The genus Speyeria and the Speyeria atlantis/hesperis complex: species and subspecies accounts, systematics, and biogeography (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)" on 19 November. He is now PHinally Done.
Ph.D. student Matt Tarver was recently selected as the 2007 William L. Nutting Award recipient. Matt is a member Dr. Mike Scharf's insect toxicology laboratory. This Award honors the late Bill Nutting, an outstanding termite biologist who made major contributions to termite biology, both through his own research and mentoring of students. It is given to the IUSSI (International Union for the Study of Social Insects) student member who shows a distinguished record of research in the area of basic termite biology. Tarver will receive a plaque and a $1,000 research grant at the IUSSI business meeting at the 2007 Entomological Society of America (ESA) meeting in San Diego.
Alumni News
Dr. Dan Sonke, formerly a DPM student assigned to our department, served on a committee that reviewed the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Biomass Programs Multi-year Plan. The Office of Biomass Programs encourages development of renewable fuels from biological sources. Sonke represented the concerns of agriculture and the environment.
Publications
Juneau KJ, Kaufman PE. (2007). Little blue cattle louse, Solenopotes capillatus (Enderlein). Featured Creatures. EENY-422. http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/livestock/little_blue_cattle_louse.htm
Medal J, Bojorquez G, Bustamante N. 2007. Biological Control of Weeds in Latin-America: Current status. In Proceedings XXVIII National Meeting of the Weed Science Society. Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico. Asomecima/Universidad Autonoma de Sinaloa.
Medal J, Bojorquez G. 2007. Biological Control of Aquatic Weeds in Latin-America. In Workshop: Update on Weed Management. Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico. Asomecima/Universidad Autonoma de Sinaloa.
Lietze V-U, Geden CJ, Blackburn P, Boucias DG. 2007. Effects of salivary gland hypertrophy virus on reproductive behavior of the house fly, Musca domestica. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 73: 6811-6818.
Taheri J, Kaufman PE, Slansky F. (2007). Tree squirrel bot fly, Cuterebra emasculator Fitch. Featured Creatures. EENY-401. http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/flies/squirrel_bot_fly.htm
Fraulo AB, Liburd OE. 2007. Biological control of twospotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch, with predatory mite, Neoseiulus californicus, in strawberries. Exp. Appl. Acarol. 43: 109-119.
Nyoike TW, Liburd OE, Akad F, Polston JE. 2007. Don't crumple under whitefly pressure! Reflective mulch, imidacloprid can help control a new whitefly-transmitted disease. Citrus and Vegetable Magazine 72: 24 - 26.
Scharf ME, Zhou X, Schwinghammer MA. (2008). Applications of RNA interference in functional genomics studies of a social insect. In Barik S. (editor) Methods in Molecular Biology vol. 442: RNAi Design and Application, pp. 205-229. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ.
Svenson GJ, Branham MA. 2007. PHOTININI LeConte, 1881 (Insecta, Coleoptera) and PHOTININAE Giglio-Tos, 1919 (Insecta, Mantodea): proposed resolution of homonymy between family group names. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 64: 1-9.
Stelinski LL. 2007. On the physiological and behavioral mechanisms of pheromone-based mating disruption. Pesticides 3-4: 27-32.
Meetings and Presentations
Dr. Julio Medal gave the invited opening talk at the 28th Mexican Weed Science Society Annual Meeting/4th International Symposium of Aquatic Weeds held in Mazatlan, Mexico, 14-16 November. Medal's presentation "Biological Control of Invasive Weeds in Latin-America" was co-authored by Nikary Bustamante. Medal and Bustamante also gave two invited talks at the Workshop on Update of Weed Management held in Mazatlan on November 12-13. Bustamante spoke on "Biological Control of Aquatic Weeds in Latin-America," while Medal's presentation was "Biological Control of Terrestrial Weeds." After the meetings, they spent four days conducting field explorations for potential biocontrol agents of Solanum tampicense, an invasive weed in Florida.
Dr. James P. Cuda attended the Everglades Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area (CISMA) Steering Committee Meeting held in West Palm Beach, Florida, 6 November. The purpose of the meeting was to develop a blueprint for management of invasive species impacting the Florida Everglades during FY2008.
Dr. James Cuda was invited to participate in the Tropical and Subtropical Agricultural Research (TSTAR-Caribbean) Workshop, "Winning the War on Invasive Species," held in Miami, FL, 7-9 November. Cuda spoke on the "Establishment of the University of Florida's Invasive Species Coordinating Council."
Dr. James Cuda was invited to participate in the Florida Master Naturalist Training Program focusing on invasive plant pests in Florida's natural areas, in Haines City, FL, on 9 November. Cuda delivered two presentations "The Importance of Invasive Species to Florida's Natural Areas" and "Non-native Plants: It's an Invasion!"
Dr. James Cuda attended a UF/IFAS Invasive Plant Working Group meeting held in Gainesville, FL, 20 November. Participants discussed the IFAS Assessment of Non-native Plants in Florida's Natural Areas (http://plants.ifas.ufl.edu/assessment/), and to review the status of potentially invasive plant species that being considered for use as biofuels in Florida.
Drs. James Cuda and Marc Branham attended the "NSF Training Grants Workshop" that was sponsored by the Office of Research, University of Florida.
Grants
Ph.D. student Hardev Sandhu received a $200 UF/IFAS travel grant to attend the ESA meeting in San Diego, California. His paper is "Effect of temperature on the life cycle of lesser cornstalk borer, Elasmopalpus lignosellus (Zeller) on sugarcane."
Segments
An online auction cost a bidder $40,800 to have the Minerva owl butterfly named after the late Margery Minerva Blythe Kitzmiller of Ohio. The scientific name of the butterfly is now Opsiphanes blythekitzmillerae. See more details at http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/11/23/butterfly.name.ap/index.html.
The annual meeting of the ESA's Southeastern Branch is scheduled for 2-5 March 2008 in Jacksonville, Florida. Abstracts were due by 30 November. See http://n-fl-bugs.ifas.ufl.edu/SEB/
Fifty-three students attended the 20th annual UF/IFAS School of Structural Fumigation, held 12-16 November in Fort Lauderdale. Students came from as far away as Japan, Australia, and Trinidad to attend this unique classroom, workshop, and field instructional program. Fifteen of the 16 students who applied for operator certification in the Florida fumigation category passed the rigorous 200 question exam. Drs. Rudolf Scheffrahn and Nan-Yao Su coordinate the school with support from numerous industry and state agencies volunteers.
Newsletter Minutiae
Thomas Fasulo is the newsletter editor. You can submit news anytime to him at fasulo@ufl.edu. Issues are published the middle of each month. Submit items for an issue by the 7th of that month.
Printed copies are distributed only within Building 970. UF-Bugnews-L listserv subscribers receive notices when HTML and PDF copies are posted on the newsletter Web site at http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/news/ , which has instructions for subscribing and unsubscribing. Pam Howell and Nancy Sanders review the newsletter for errors and prepare the print version for distribution. Thomas Fasulo codes the HTML version.
In the last 12 months, the newsletter Web site recorded 60,174 visitor sessions, 82,268 HTML page views and 8,651 PDF downloads.
December 2007.