January 2008
Faculty News
Professor Emeritus Dr. Malcolm T. Sanford attended the National Beekeeping Convention, in Sacramento, CA, 7-14 January. He presented information on Web pages and discussion lists that beekeeping associations can use for better contact with their members. He also promoted a new initiative, the Global Bee Breeders Association. See http://gbba.vze.com/. Dr. Sanford has a new e-mail address: beeactor@apisenterprises.com.
Dr. Phil Kaufman began his term as the Structural, Veterinary and Public Health Section Vice President following the 2007 Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of America (ESA) in San Diego, during December.
Dr. James P. Cuda was invited to participate in an In-Service Training Program held at the Mid-Florida REC in Apopka, FL, on 5 December. The program was held to develop a generic model for state and county faculty interested in increasing agricultural awareness in Florida.
Drs. James Cuda and Mark Branham participated in an NSF training workshop held at the Reitz Union on 6 December. The workshop focused on identifying key elements for developing successful proposals for the Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12) and Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) programs.
Staff News
Sharon Hoopaugh retired as head of our Fiscal office on 31 December. Linda Pedersen, from ICS, transferred over earlier last year to prepare to take over as Accountant and she is now in charge of the office. Diana King, a new employee, now handles those responsibilities Linda previously dealt with.
Student News
Graduate student Rosie Gill is the new elected representative from the Department of Entomology and Nematology for the Graduate Student Council (GSC), as well as the GSC Social chair. Send questions regarding travel and research grants to Rosie at simgill@ufl.edu.
Our undergraduate program had experienced lower numbers for awhile. However, in addition to our 100 or so graduate students, the department now has, as reported by Dr. Carl Barfield at the last faculty meeting, 46 undergraduates in major, minor or dual major tracks.
Ph.D. student Gaurav Goyal received a $200 UF/IFAS grant to attend the ESA meeting where he gave the oral presentation "Distribution of corn feeding picture wing flies (Ulidiidae) in Florida"
Our students did extremely well at the ESA Student Oral and Poster Competitions:
Daniel Carrillo took 1st place in the Biological Control Ca1 section with his talk "Effect of host plants on successful parasitism by Haeckeliania sperata (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) in Diaprepes abbreviatus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) eggs." Dr. Jorge Pena and Rita Duncan were coauthors.
Veronica Manrique took 2nd place in the Biological Control Ca1 section with her talk "Temperature-dependent development of the biocontrol agent Episimus utilis (Tortricidae), and its potential distribution in Florida." Drs. James Cuda and William Overholt were coauthors. Veronica received three student travel grants, totaling $700, to attend the ESA Meeting: UF/IFAS, Graduate Student Council, and Florida Entomological Society.
Emily Saarinen took 2nd place in the Behavior and Ecology Cd1 section with her talk "Population structure and genetic variability in the endangered Miami blue butterfly."
Peter Obenauer took 2nd place in the Medical and Veterinary section with his talk "Aedes albopictus (Skuse) (Diptera: Culicidae) trap performance at different heights in north-central Florida suburban and sylvatic locations." Dr. Phillip Kaufman was coauthor.
Amit Sethi took 1st place in the Host Plant Resistance Fa section with his talk "Banded cucumber beetle (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) resistance in romaine lettuce: Understanding latex chemistry." Drs. Hans Alborn, Heather McAuslane, Russell Nagata and Gregg Nuessly were coauthors.
Thomas Chouvenc took 1st place in the Urban Entomology Fb1 section with his talk "Cellular interaction between the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae and the eastern subterranean termite Reticulitermes flavipes (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae)." Dr. Nan-Yao Su was coauthor.
Marsha Wheeler took 2nd place in the Urban Entomology Fb1 section with her talk "Effects of three sugar-based cellulase inhibitors on feeding and mortality of Reticulitermes flavipes workers. Drs. Xuguo Zhou, Faith Oi and Michael Scharf were coauthors.
Margaret Pfiester took 1st place in the Urban Entomology Fb2 section with her talk "The effect of sex-ratio on dispersal and aggregation behavior of the common bed bug, Cimex lectularius." Dr. Philip Koehler was coauthor.
Cara Vasquez was runner-up for 1st place in the Physiology, Biochemistry, Toxicology, and Molecular Biology B2 section with her poster "Evaluation of efficacy and baseline susceptibilities to five insecticides for Blissus insularis (Hemiptera: Blissidae)." Dr. Marjorie Hoy, Nate Royalty and Dr. Eileen Buss were coauthors.
Two undergraduate honors students from Dr. Pauline Lawrence's laboratory also presented posters at the ESA meeting. Dr. Lawrence co-authored both posters:
Bernadette A. Lee - "HPLC and tandem mass spectrometry of Diachasmimorpha longicaudata poison gland components." Bernadette majors in Linguistics.
Christopher J. O'Bara - "Analysis of amino acid sequences of nucleic acid-binding homologs from the Diachasmimorpha longicaudata entomopoxvirus." Chris majors in Physics and Entomology.
Alumni News
Dr. Gary Jahn (M.S. 85), coordinator of the Greater Mekong Subregion for the International Rice Research Institute, received the International Plant Protection Award of Distinction from the International Association for the Plant Protection Sciences at the XVI International Plant Protection Congress meeting in Scotland. Dr. Jahn received this honor for improving management of rice pests and building the capacity of developing nations to conduct research on rice IPM.
Publications
McLendon M, Kaufman PE. (2007). Horse bot fly, Gasterophilus intestinalis (DeGeer). Featured Creatures. EENY-406. http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/livestock/horse_bot_fly.htm
Slansky F. 2007. Feline cuterebrosis caused by a lagomorph-infesting Cuterebra spp. larva. Journal of Parasitology 93: 959-961.
Slansky F. 2007. Cuterebrosis in a Florida horse: First equid record for North America. Florida Entomologist 90: 795-797.
Witzgall P, Stelinski LL, Gut LJ, Thomson D. 2008. Codling moth management and chemical ecology. Annual Review of Entomology. 53: 503-522.
Kaufman PE, Strong C, Rutz DA. 2008. Susceptibility of lesser mealworm (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) adults and larvae exposed to two commercial insecticides on unpainted plywood panels. Pest Management Science 64: 108-111.
Daniels JC. (2007). Gulf fritillary butterfly, Agraulis vanillae (Linnaeus). Featured Creatures. EENY-423. http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/bfly/Gulf_fritillary.htm
Seminar Series – Spring 2008
This semester, graduate students Seth Bybee, Rosie Gill, Heidi Hanspetersen, Craig Roubos, Corraine Scott and Tricia Toth serve on the Seminar Committee. Seminars are held on Thursday afternoons in room 1031. Refreshments are served at 3:45 pm, and the seminar begins at 4:00 pm.
Speaking of food, graduate students Andres Sandoval, John Herbert, Namgay Om, Rosie Gill, and Rosana Serikawa volunteered in preparing and serving the food, and cleaned up afterwards, during the fall seminar series, 2007. Thank you!
Seminars listed as TBA will be added to this issue on the newsletter Web site as the titles are announced.
01/17 - Genomic analysis of chemical communication in honey bees. Dr. Christina Grozinger, North Carolina State University.
01/24 - The organization of foraging in the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta. Dr. Walter R. Tschinkel, Florida State University.
01/29 - Explorations of a 'simple' olfactory system. Dr. John Hildebrand, Arizona Research Laboratories.
02/07 - Compatible strategies for managing Asian citrus psyllid and conserving biological control. Dr. Philip Stansly, UF.
02/14 - Biologically-based control of Tephritid fruit flies. Dr. John Sivinski, USDA, Gainesville, FL.
02/21 - Connecting empirical and theoretical population dynamics. Dr. Brian Inouye, Florida State University.
02/28 - Hemolymph hexamerin proteins in Romalea microptera: Their apparent roles in growth and reproduction. Dr. David Borst, University of Central Florida.
03/06 - Fire ant chemical ecology: From basics to application. Dr. Robert Vander Meer, USDA, Gainesville, FL.
03/13 - spring break
03/20 - Examples of research on biological control of 'resident' and 'invasive' tropical fruit pests. Dr. Jorgé Peña, UF.
03/27 - Impacts of nest invaders on honey bee foraging ecology and pollinating efficacy. Dr. Amanda Ellis, FDACS-DPI.
04/03 - The butterflies of Ecuador - surveying a megadiverse country. Dr. Keith Willmott, McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, UF.
04/10 - Coral beans (Erythrina), nicotine receptors and insects. Dr. William Kem, UF.
04/17 - Adaptive evolution of color vision genes in a mimetic butterfly complex. Dr. Adriana Briscoe, University of California, Irvine.
Meetings and Presentations
Thomas Fasulo was invited to give the presentation "Insects in the Revolutionary War," at a meeting of the Sons of the American Revolution on 17 December, in Gainesville.
At the ESA meeeting, Dr. James P. Cuda was a moderator for one of the 10-minute oral presentation sections on Biological Control.
Dr. James Cuda attended an Invasive Plant Working Group meeting in Gainesville, on 14 December. Participants considered the adoption/modification of a predictive assessment protocol for cultivars of non-native plants.
The following presentations and posters are from the ESA meeting:
Dr. Pauline O. Lawrence, Luis F. Matos, and Oscar Hernandez coauthored the poster "Similarities between a putative entomopoxvirus from chironomid larvae and the Diachasmimorpha longicaudata entomopoxvirus (DlEPV)."
Dr. Phil Kaufman and Lois Wood coauthored the presentation "Diversity of dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae and Geotrupidae) in north central Florida cattle pastures."
Drs. R.S. Mann, Phil Kaufman, and Jerry Butler coauthored the presentation "Response of Lutzomyia spp. to light emitting diode modified Mosquito Magnet-X traps."
Graduate student Mike Bentley and Dr. Phil Kaufman coauthored the presentation "Determination of adult mosquito species attractiveness to resting boxes internally fitted with light emitting diodes placed in suburban and rural habitats."
Dr. James Cuda presented the paper "Pseudophilothrips ichini, an approved biocontrol agent of Brazilian peppertree, Schinus terebinthifolius: biology, host range, and impact studies." Co-authors were Dr. Julio Medal, Judy Gillmore, and Veronica Manrique.
Grants
Dr. Mirian Medina Hay-Roe, UF McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, received a $10,000 grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, to study the "Biodiversity, Conservation and Management of Pampa Hermosa Reserve (Montane forest, Eastern side of the Andes, Peru)." Co-PIs are Dr. Angeles De la Torre-Cuadros and Ms. Carolina Tovar, Universidad Agraria, Lima, Peru; and Dr. Alexis Aguilar, University of Maryland.
Dr. Pauline Lawrence received one of the First IFAS-ICBR Innovative Projects Initiative grants awarded in December, 2007. Her project is "Virus gene expression and the host immune response."
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.
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January 2008.