July2007
Faculty News
The University of Hawaii (UH) honored Dr. Nan-Yao Su, one of our termite researchers, as its Outstanding Alumnus for 2007. Su, who developed the Sentricon termite baiting system used in 18 countries around the world, was honored at UH's College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources' centennial celebration on 12 April. In addition, Hawaii's legislature issued two proclamations recognizing his achievements. Su, a native of Taiwan, is based at the Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center and has been with UF since 1984. He began studying subterranean termites as a graduate student in Hawaii. - IFAS News
Drs. Ron Cave, Howard Frank and graduate student Teresa Cooper were all mentioned in a UF/IFAS news release and a Tampa Tribune article about a parasitic fly that attacks the Mexican bromeliad weevil. The fly, Lixadmontia franki, was discovered in 1993 in Honduras by Cave, who named it after Frank. The fly proved extremely difficult, if not impossible, to rear until the opening of the new quarantine facility in Ft. Pierce. This release, and several others that are scheduled, is important in that the Mexican bromeliad weevil has been eating its way through Florida's precious bromeliads since 1989, threatening entire species. These bromeliads are prized, not only for natural diversity, but also because many Florida species are unique and generate significant tourist interest. To view the press release, see the Pest Alert at http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/pestalert/ for 06/28/07.
Staff News
James Chamblee, who has been with IFAS Facilities for six years, recently joined our department as the new Maintenance Mechanic. Before assuming his present duties, he did carpentry and renovations for IFAS. He lives in the Suwannee area and is an avid fisherman.
The department welcomes the multi-talented Mike McVicar to the graphics staff. He is here part-time through June, then he will work full-time beginning in July. A transfer student from Santa Fe Community College, Mike will start UF in the Fall as a junior in graphical design. He is available all summer (and beyond, we hope) to do minor Web updates, scientific posters, displays, and other graphic art tasks. - Jane Medley
Dr. Byron "Pete" Coon is leaving the Department on 11 July to begin work as the Biological Research Manager for Clarke Mosquito Corporation in Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Coon has taught Insect Field Biology for several years. Hundreds of students in many disciplines have taken his classes seeking to become effective science teachers. While stationed in Chicago, his job will also require extensive, including international, travel.
After taking a break from entomological research and spending some time in Germany, Dr. Verena Lietze rejoined the Department. On July 1st, she returned to the Insect Pathology lab to work with Dr. Drion Boucias. As a Senior Biological Scientist she will coordinate and conduct research on the Musca domestica salivary gland hypertrophy virus (MdSGHV).
Student News
Several students have asked when Insect Molecular Genetics will be offered next. It will be offered during Spring 2008 and is available by distance education. For additional information contact Dr. M. A. Hoy at mahoy@ifas.ufl.edu.
Graduate student Jennifer Zaspel received a Davidson Graduate Student Travel Scholarship. The $300 award was used to support her travel expenses to the 26th Annual Will Hennig Society Conference in New Orleans, 28 June-3 July.
Ph.D. student Christian Salcedo will attend the 44th annual meeting of the Animal Behavior Society at Burlington, Vermont, 21-25 July 2007, where he will present his research on Heliconius butterflies behavior.
Alumni News
Dr. Greg Wheeler (Ph.D ‘89), at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Invasive Plant Research Laboratory in Fort Lauderdale, was recently mentioned in an ARS news release. He and his colleagues are collaborating with their counterparts at the ARS South American Biological Control Laboratory in Argentina; the ARS Australian Biological Control Laboratory in Indooroopilly, Australia; and with China's Academy of Science. They are working on discovering insect herbivores to control a number of invasive weeds, including hydrilla, Brazilian pepper, Chinese tallow and Australian pine. Dr. Wheeler was invited to report these biological control findings at the Brazilian Society for Biocontrol meeting in Brasilia, Brazil, 30 June-4 July. Details are at http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2007/070621.htm.
Publications
Slansky F. 2006. Cuterebra bot flies (Diptera: Oestridae) and their indigenous hosts and potential hosts in Florida. Florida Entomologist 89: 152-160.
Slansky F, Huckabee J. 2006. First records of rodent-infesting Cuterebra bot flies parasitizing raccoons (Procyon lotor) in North America. Journal of Parasitology 92: 1369-1373.
Slansky F. 2007. Insect/mammal associations: Effects of cuterebrid bot fly parasites on their hosts. Annual Review of Entomology 52: 17-36.
Dekle GW. (2007). Azalea leafminer, Gracillaria azaleella (Brants). Featured Creatures. EENY-379. http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/orn/shrubs/azalea_leafminer.htm
Arévalo HA, Liburd OE. 2007. Flower thrips, oviposition and dispersion behavior in early season blueberries. Journal of Insect Science 7: 28-29.
Hall DW. (June 2007). Luna moth, Actias luna (Linnaeus). Featured Creatures. EENY-411. http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/moths/luna_moth.htm
Hoy MA, Jeyaprakash A, Clarke-Harris D, Rhodes E. 2007. Molecular and field analyses of the fortuitous establishment of Lipolexis oregmae (Hymenoptera: Aphidiidae) in Jamaica as a natural enemy of the brown citrus aphid. Biocontrol Science and Technology 17: 473-482.
Meyer JM, Hoy MA, Singh R. 2007. Low incidence of Candidatus liberibacter asiaticus in Diaphorina citri (Hemiptera: Psyllidae) populations between Nov 2005 and Jan 2006: Relevance to management of citrus greening disease in Florida. Florida Entomologist 90: 394-397.
Hoy MA, Singh R, Rogers ME. 2007. Citrus leafminer, Phyllocnistis citrella (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae), and natural enemy dynamics in central Florida during 2005. Florida Entomologist 90: 358-369.
Hall DW, Minno M, Butler JF. (July 2007). Dingy purplewing butterfly, Eunica monima (Stoll). Featured Creatures. EENY-412. http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/bfly/dingy_purplewing.htm
Kaur R, Brito JA, Rich JR. 2007. Host suitability of selected weed species to five Meloidogyne species. Nematropica 37: 107-120.
Cetintas R, Kaur R, Brito JA, Mendes ML, Nyczepir AP, Dickson DW. 2007. Comparison of pathogenicity and reproductive potential of Meloidogyne mayaguensis and M. floridensis with three other common Meloidogyne spp. in Florida. Nematropica 37: 21-32.
Hay-Roe MM, Lamas G, Nation JL. 2007. Pre- and postzygotic isolation and Haldane rule effects in reciprocal crosses of Danaus erippus and Danaus plexippus (Lepidoptera: Danainae), supported by differentiation of cuticular hydrocarbons, establish their status as separate species. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 91: 445-453.
Wessels FW, Cuda JP, Johnson MT, Pedrosa-Macedo JH. 2007. Host specificity of Tectococcus ovatus (Hemiptera: Eriococcidae), a potential biological control agent of the invasive strawberry guava, Psidium cattleianum (Myrtales: Myrtaceae), in Florida. BioControl 52: 439-449.
Howard FW, Moore D, Abreu E, Gallo S. (July 2007). Acaro del coco, Aceria guerreronis Keifer. Featured Creatures. EENY-405. http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/orn/palms/Aceria_guerreronis_sp.htm
Meetings and Presentations
Drs. Larry Duncan and Billy Crow were invited speakers at the Biennial Symposium of the Nematological Society of Southern Africa in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Dr. Duncan presented "Developing strategies for conservation and inoculative biological control with entomopathogenic nematodes for root weevil control in Florida citrus," and "Linking the behaviour of nematodes, food webs, and the physical habitat: New methods." Dr. Crow presented "Turfgrass nematology in the United States."
Dr. Billy Crow also was an invited speaker for the Turf Managers Association of KwaZulu Natal in Durban, South Africa, and the Golf Course Managers and Greenkeeper Association in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Dr. Jaret C. Daniels gave a Florida Museum of Natural History seminar on 21 May: "Singin' the blues: Cooperative efforts to conserve one of the nation's most imperiled butterflies."
Dr. Jaret Daniels attended the Florida Wildlife Stakeholder's Forum in Orlando on 6-7 June, and presented a poster, "Florida Butterfly Monitoring Network" highlighting his State Wildlife Grant.
Dr. James P. Cuda was invited to give a presentation and laboratory demonstration on biological control of aquatic weeds at the Silent Invaders Summer Plant Workshop held in Gainesville, 10-14 June. The annual workshop, sponsored by UF's Center for Precollegiate Education and Training (CPET), and the Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants, provides Florida's middle school science teachers with expanded content knowledge and laboratory/field experience in the area of aquatic and upland plant biology and ecology. The experience enables teachers to develop relevant curricula for their students.
Dr. James Cuda was an invited speaker at the inaugural Applied Management of Conservation Lands Conference held in Orlando, FL, 20-22 June. Cuda delivered presentation on "Biological control and vegetation management." Over 400 water management district, DEP biologists, and foresters attended the conference.
Dr. James Cuda was invited to participate in the 10th International Symposium on Biological Control (X Siconbiol) held in Brasilia, Brazil, 30 June- 4 July. Cuda gave a presentation on "Collaboration Between Brazil and the USA in classical biological control - cases of success and lessons learned." This presentation was co-authored by Drs. Howard Frank, James Maruniak, and Julio Medal. Cuda also presented a research paper on "Screening of the fungal pathogen Septoria sp. for biological control of Aroeira (Brazilian peppertree) in Florida" that was co-authored by Tanya Stevens and Dr. Julio Medal.
Grants
Dr. Jaret C. Daniels received a $12,000 award from Disney's Wildlife Conservation Fund to develop a series of short public education videos on Florida's endangered Miami blue butterfly. See http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/bfly/miami_blue.htm for details on this species.
Segments
The Featured Creatures Web site at http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/ only has 406 publications, but it gained a new milestone last month when it recorded over 3,000,000 distinct visitors in the last 12 months. A Distinct Visitor is someone who visits the site and is counted only once no matter how long they visit, unless they take a 30 minute break with no activity, then they are counted again if they continue to view the site.
Bug Quote
The Swarm — Monsters by the millions, and they are all for real! Excel to take the director of the disaster condition the text, once the successfully be responsible for the Neptunian number and skyscraper conflagration of the action in the drama part, and have to feel the elephant of the public soul with result, have the authentic fact conduct and actions the basis, persons the details that match wits also there is certain science can't be stunt of the letter, high also increased then that penetrate everywhere. - - Liner notes on a pirated DVD from Taiwan for the movie The Swarm
Newsletter Minutia
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 coded the HTML version.
During the last 12 months, the newsletter Web site recorded 59,451 distinct visitors, 76,390 page views, and 7,584 downloaded PDF files
July 2007.