UF/IFAS Entomology and Nematology Newsletter

Drs. Jawwad Qureshi and Phil Stansly, and Ph.D. candidate Eric Rohrig, are working with Tamarixia radiata Waterston (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae), a species-specific ectoparasitoid of the Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Hemiptera: Psyllidae). They are releasing this ectoparasite in both conventional and organic commercial citrus groves in Florida, with 5,150 wasps released in 2009. Parasitism rates are monitored by rearing field collected nymphs of D. citri and exposing infested sentinel plants in the field. These releases were initiated in an attempt to increase early season parasitism by T. radiata after a recently published state-wide survey of Florida citrus demonstrated generally variable and low incidence of the wasp in citrus groves. They are also attempting to establish Diaphorencyrtus aligarhensis (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) from southern China throughout the state and are requesting release permits from USDA-APHIS for newly imported strains of T. radiata from Viet Nam, China and Pakistan. - Dr. H. Alejandro Arevalo

On 12 May, Drs. William A. Overholt and James P. Cuda were recognized for their UF/IFAS Research Innovation Grant "Use of genotype matching to select the most effective biological control agents of the invasive weed Schinus terebinthifolius" at the 2nd Annual FAES Research Awards Ceremony held at the Harn Museum.

Student News

The following undergraduate students received Dean’s List recognition for their academic performance in Spring 2009. CALS Dean’s List criteria are 3.70 GPA with a minimum of 12 semester hours of graded credits. Certificates will be mailed to each student’s permanent address next week. - Dr. Carl Barfield, Undergraduate Coordinator

Kayla A. Brownell
Meredith L. Cenzer
Joshua M. Garcia
Wendy Gonzalez-Canal
Sarahlynne C. Guerrero

Katrina M. Lane
Craig A. Littauer
Erin L. Partridge
Daniel B. Pitt
Andrew S. Taylor

Dr. David Serrano (MS '01, PhD '06) accepted an Assistant Professor position at Broward College beginning Fall 2009. You can contact David at: Broward College, Biological Science Department, 3501 SW Davie Rd, Bldg 7 Rm 148, Davie, FL 33314. office: 954-201-6401.

Publications

Arthurs S, McKenzie CL, Chen J, Dogramaci M, Brennan M, Houben K, Osborne LS. 2009. Evaluation of Neoseiulus cucumeris and Amblyseius swirskii (Acari: Phytoseiidae) as biological control agents of chilli thrips, Scirtothrips dorsalis (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) on pepper. Biological Control 49: 91-96.

Onagbola EO, Boina DR, Herman SL, Stelinski LL. 2009. Antennal sensilla of Tamarixia radiata (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae), a parasitoid of Diaphorina citri (Hemiptera: Psyllidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 102: 523-531.

Wenninger EJ, Stelinski LL, Hall DG. 2009. Relationships between adult abdominal color and reproductive potential in Diaphorina citri (Hemiptera: Psyllidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 102: 476-483.

Stelinski LL, Gut LJ. 2009. Delayed mating in tortricid leafroller species: simultaneously aging both sexes prior to mating is more detrimental to female reproductive potential than aging either sex alone. Bulletin of Entomological Research 99: 245-251.

Gökçe A, Stelinski LL, Whalon ME, Gut LJ. 2009. Toxicity and antifeedant activity of selected plant extracts against larval obliquebanded leafroller, Choristoneura rosaceana (Harris). The Open Entomology Journal 3: 30-36.

Song C, Scharf ME. 2009. Mitochondrial impacts of insecticidal formate esters in insecticide resistant and susceptible Drosophila melanogaster. Pest Management Science 65: 697-703.

Chaskopoulou A, Nguyen SN, Pereira RM, Scharf ME, Koehler PG. 2009. Toxicities of 31 volatile low molecular weight compounds against Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus. Journal of Medical Entomology 46: 328-334.

Smith JA, Scharf ME, Pereira RM, Koehler PG. 2009. Comparison of gut carbohydrolase activity patterns in Reticulitermes flavipes and Coptotermes formosanus workers and soldiers. Sociobiology 53: 13-22.

Salem TZ, Garcia-Maruniak A, Lietze VU, Maruniak JE, Boucias DG. 2009. Analysis of transcripts from predicted open reading frames of Musca domestica salivary gland hypertrophy virus. Journal of General Virology 90: 1270-80.

Abd-Alla AMM, Vlak JM, Bergoin M, Maruniak JE, Parker A, Burand JP, Jehle JA, Boucias DG. 2009. Hytrosaviridae: a proposal for classification and nomenclature of a new insect virus family. Archives of Virology 154: 909-918.

Weissman DB, Walker TJ, Gray DA. 2009. The field cricket Gryllus assimilis and two new sister species (Orthoptera: Gryllidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 102: 367-380.

Manrique V, Cuda JP, Overholt WA, Ewe SML. 2009. Influence of host plant quality on the performance of Episimus unguiculus, a candidate biological control agent of Brazilian peppertree in Florida. BioControl 54: 475-484.

Meetings and Presentations

Dr. James P. Cuda and his Ph.D. student Abhishek Mukherjee attended the 24th Annual Symposium of the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council held in Delray Beach, FL, 26-29 May. Cuda gave the presentation "Synergistic effect of insect herbivory and plant parasitism on the performance of the invasive tree Schinus terebinthifolius (Anacardiaceae)." The presentation was co-authored by Drs. William A. Overholt and Julio C. Medal. Cuda also was a moderator for one of the biological control sessions. Mukherjee presented the paper "Exploratory surveys in India for natural enemies of Hygrophila polysperma: preliminary results," which was co-authored by Cuda.

Dr. James P. Cuda and Abhishek Mukherjee participated in the 2nd Annual Hydrilla and Hygrophila Field Demonstration held at the Kissimmee Lakefront Park, Osceola Co, FL, 4 June. Cuda and Muhkerjee delivered two poster presentations showcasing UF's research activities on classical biological control of the aquatic weeds hydrilla and hygrophila.

Grants

Graduate student Lindsey Christ received a $1,000 research grant from the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council. Lindsey is one of Dr. James Cuda's graduate students and is currently in Brazil studying the field biology and life history of the Brazilian peppertree leaflet galling psyllid Calophya terebinthifolii Burckhardt & Bassett.

Dr. James P. Cuda received a $5,000 research grant from Evonik Industries, one of the world's largest producers of the food additive methionine, to continue investigating biopesticidal properties of this essential amino acid.

Outreach with Maggots!

Among other insect-related activities during a recent tour of our department, the young students of the Gainesville Expressions Learning Arts Academy learned how to paint with maggots. Click here for text and images.

Entomological Foundation Challenge

The Entomological Foundation announced a national fundraising campaign to establish an endowment to benefit the Entomological Foundation. The goal is to raise $400,000 by December 1, 2009 in partnership with the Branches.

The Education Fund will provide assets to work in perpetuity to meet future funding needs; to fund new programs, projects, and services; or to expand the reach of Foundation programs and services. A portion of the funds raised, $40,000, will be given to an ESA Branch to establish an endowment of their own that will be used to help support educational activities of an ESA Branch including funding for educational outreach activities, workshops, scholarships and awards. The fundraising campaign includes a competition between the ESA Branches and will end when the Foundation reaches $400,000. The ESA Branch raising the largest level of donations (per membership) by the end of the competition will be provided with $40,000.

For more details, contact Dr. Rebecca Baldwin (baldwinr@ufl.edu), who is a member of the Foundation's Board of Counselors.

Segments

Bees collect pollen from plants and that is good for the plants — right! Well, now there is evidence that many plants do not want bees collecting all their pollen and "work" hard at making it difficult for the bees to collect the pollen. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090517214622.htm for details.

Malaria infects hundreds of millions of people every year and kills one to three million, mostly children. A recent study showed that the spread of malaria parasites was curbed with a combination of methylene blue and new malaria drugs. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090520100506.htm for details.

In water containers across the southeastern U.S., at least one species of midges is hard at work eliminating exotic, invasive mosquitoes, thereby benefiting some native mosquito species. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090604103640.htm for details.

So where does a 20,000 pound African elephant go? Anywhere it wants to, right? Well, not anymore. Not if you have "bee hive fences" around your fields. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090606111040.htm for details.

Bug Quote

"Although many beekeepers served in the U.S. Armed forces during World War II, some chose to stay stateside. In fact, beginning in 1942, the Selective Service included beekeeping as an essential agricultural activity allowing local draft boards to grant deferments to individuals whom they felt contributed more to the war effort through their beekeeping activities. The Honey Industry Council was able to persuade the federal government to exempt wood, sugar and metal from rationing to beekeepers because beekeepers supplied beeswax and honey to the government. It was estimated that over one million pounds of beeswax per year were used in war products. When a beekeeper once was denied permission to buy sugar to feed his hives, the secretary for a local War Procurement Board stated without sympathy, ‘Who do you think you are trying to get sugar for your bees, when I can't get sugar for my coffee.' The Board reversed its decision when the beekeeper returned with a bee inspector who threatened a federal lawsuit." - from Bees in America: How the Honey Bee Shaped a Nation by Tammy Horn

Cartoons

Many comic Web sites limit the length of time a panel appears to just 30 days. Others may require you to register to view previous panels, which you may not wish to do. In either case, the sooner you visit the site, the greater chance you have to view the following:

Thomas Fasulo is the newsletter editor. Departmental faculty, staff, students and alumni can submit news anytime to fasulo@ufl.edu. Issues usually are published by early mid-month. Submit items for an issue by the 7th of that month.

UF-Bugnews-L listserv subscribers receive notices when issues 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. Thomas Fasulo does the HTML coding.

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