January 2011

Faculty News

Dr. Rebecca Baldwin recently completed the UF College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) Teaching College. Each Fall, the CALS Teaching Resource Center conducts a 10-week Teachers College for faculty members selected through a nomination process. Teachers College was established in 2007 to enhance the teaching skills of newer CALS faculty members.

Dr. Gregg S. Nuessly was appointed Associate Center Director of the UF/IFAS Everglades Research and Education Center in Belle Glade.

Dr. Howard Frank reports that the Save Bromeliads Web site recorded over 500,000 page views in 2010.

Dr. Marc Branham reports that the paper "Is molecular data supplanting morphological data in modern phylogenetic studies?", by Bybee SM (Ph.D. '08), Zaspel JM (Ph.D. '08), Beucke KA (Ph.D. '09), Scott CH, Smith B (M.S. '09) and Branham MA, was one of the five most downloaded articles in the journal Systematic Entomology in 2010. It was published in Systematic Entomology 35: 2-5.


Student News

Dr. Gaurav Goyal received his Ph.D. in Entomology from UF in December 2010. His dissertation was on "Morphology, Biology and Distribution of Corn-infesting Ulidiidae." He also was one of six international students from the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) recognized each year by the International Center at the University of Florida. As such, Dr. Goyal received an Outstanding Academic Achievement Award on 17 November at the award function at the Reitz Union on the UF campus in Gainesville.

Dr. Frank Wessels also finished his Ph.D. and is now working as a research scientist in the Entomology Discovery R&D Department of Dow AgroSciences in Indianapolis, Indiana.

During 11-15 December 2010, many members of the department attended the 58th Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of America (ESA) in San Diego, California.

Teresia Nyoike received second prize in the 10-minute graduate student oral paper competition for the President's Prize (subsection Horticultural IPM) at the ESA meeting.

Left to right: graduate students Margaret Paxson, Harsimran Gill, and Gaurav Goyal, as well as Wendy Hartman (not present
at the awards ceremony), were the runners-up at the ESA Student Debate on "Issues Surrounding Biodiversity Topic 3." Their topic was
"Transgenic Insecticidal Crops Will Conserve Arthropod Biodiversity." Presenting the awards is ESA President Dave Hogg (extreme right).

The students worked throughout the Fall semester to prepare to debate the PRO side of their assigned topic. As part of their successful participation,
their debate summary will be published in a future issue of American Entomologist. Dr. Gregg Nuessly served as the faculty advisor to the team.

Our department's Linnaean Games team made it to the semi-finals at Entomology 2010 in San Diego.
(Left to right are graduate students Teresia Nyoike, Harsimran Gill, Matt Thom and Ameya Gondhalekar.
Alternate member Corraine McNeill is not shown as each team only fields four members in the competition.)

Dr. Hardev S. Sandhu was working as a post-doctoral assistant with Dr. Gregg S. Nuessly after completing his Ph.D. in 2010. Dr. Sandhu is now working as a post-doctoral assistant with Dr. Robert A. Gilbert (Department of Agronomy, Everglades REC), managing that lab's stage III and IV sugarcane variety development program.

Dr. Seth Bybee (Ph.D. '08) received the 2010 Snodgrass Memorial Research Award by the Entomological Foundation. This national award is given for the most outstanding dissertation in the areas of arthropod morphology, systematics, taxonomy, or evolution. Dr. Bybee completed his disseration under Dr. Marc Branham.


Publications

Sourakov A, Paris T. (December 2010). Fall webworm, Hyphantria cunea (Drury). Featured Creatures. EENY-486. http://entnemdept.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/trees/moths/fall_webworm.htm

Bibbs CS, Hodges A, Baldwin R. (December 2010). Horned passalus, Odontotaenius disjunctus (Illiger). Featured Creatures. EENY-487. http://entnemdept.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/beetles/horned_passalus.htm

Li J, Seal D. (December 2010). Leafminer parasitoids, Diglyphus spp. Featured Creatures. EENY-484. http://entnemdept.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/beneficial/wasps/diglyphus.htm

Li H-F, Su N-Y, Wu W-J. 2010. Solving the hundred-year controversy of Coptotermes taxonomy in Taiwan. American Entomolologist 56: 222-227.

Li H-F. 2010. Kalotermitidae, Rhinotermitidae, and Termitidae. pp. 21-44. In Wu W-J, Shih H-T [editors], Introduction to Morphology and Ecology of Immature Stages of the Important Agricultural Insects on Family, Subfamily, and Species Levels. Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, Council of Agriculture, Taipei, Taiwan. (in Chinese)

Bourguignon T, Scheffrahn RH, Krecek J, Nagy ZT, Sonet G, Roisin Y. 2010. Towards a revision of the neotropical soldierless termites (Isoptera: Termitidae): redescription of the genus Anoplotermes and description of Longustitermes, gen. nov. Invertebrate Systematics 24: 357-370.

Burnum KE, Callister SJ, Nicora CD, Purvine, SO, Hugenholtz P, Warnecke F, Scheffrahn RH, Smith RD, Lipton MS. 2010. Proteome insights into the symbiotic relationship between a captive colony of Nasutitermes corniger and its hindgut microbiome. The ISME Journal 2010: 1-4.

Gile GH, James ER, Scheffrahn RH, Carpenter KJ, Harper JT, Keeling PJ. 2010. Molecular and morphological analysis of the Calonymphidae with a description of Calonympha chia sp. nov., Snyderella kirbyi sp. nov., Snyderella swezyae sp. nov., and Snyderella yamini sp. nov. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology doi:10.1099/ijs.0.028480-0

Hochmair H, Scheffrahn RH. 2010. Spatial association of marine dockage with land-borne infestations of invasive termites (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae: Coptotermes) in urban South Florida. Journal of Economic Entomology 103: 1338-1346.

Kanzaki N, Giblin-Davis RM, Herre EA, Scheffrahn RH, Center BJ. 2010. Pseudaphelenchus vindai n. sp. (Tylenchomorpha: Aphelenchididae) associated with termites (Termitidae) in Barro Colorado Island, Panama. Nematology 12: 905-912.

Scheffrahn RH. 2010. An extraordinary new termite (Isoptera: Termitidae: Syntermitinae: Rhynchotermes) from the pasturelands of northern Colombia. Zootaxa 2387: 63-68.

Scheffrahn RH, O’Malley RC. 2010. A new termite (Isoptera: Termitidae: Termitinae: Proboscitermes) from Tanzania. Zootaxa 2670: 52-58.

Scheffrahn RH, Huchet J-B . 2010. A new termite species (Isoptera: Termitidae: Termitinae: Amitermes) and first record of a subterranean termite from the coastal desert of South America. Zootaxa 2328: 65-68.

Warner J, Scheffrahn RH, Yang R. 2010. Arboreal bioassay for toxicity of residual and liquid bait insecticides against white-footed ants, Technomyrmex difficilis (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Sociobiology: 847-859.

Cherry R, Nuessly GS. 2010. Establishment of a new stink bug pest, Oebalus insularis (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), in Florida rice. Florida Entomologist 93: 291-293.

Cherry R, Nuessly GS. 2010. Repellency of the biopesticide, azadirachtin, to wireworms (Coleoptera: Elateridae). Florida Entomologist 93: 52-55.

Goyal G, Nuessly GS, Steck GJ, Seal DR, Capinera JL, Boote KJ. 2010. New report of Chaetopsis massyla (Walker) (Diptera: Ulidiidae) as a primary pest of corn in Florida. Florida Entomologist 93: 198-202.

Nuessly GS, Hentz MG, Gilbert RA. 2010. Susceptibility of stage IV Canal Point (CP) sugarcane clones to yellow sugarcane aphid (Sipha flava (Forbes)) feeding damage. Journal of the American Society of Sugar Cane Technologists 30: 104-114.

Sandhu HS, Nuessly GS, Webb SE, Cherry R, Gilbert RA. 2010. Temperature-dependent development of lesser cornstalk borer, Elasmopalpus lignosellus (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) on sugarcane under laboratory conditions. Environmental Entomology 39: 1012-1020.

Lietze V-U, Salem TZ, Prompiboon P, Boucias DG. 2011. Tissue tropism of the Musca domestica salivary gland hypertrophy virus. Virus Research 155: 20-27.

Lietze V-U, Abd-Alla AMM, Vreysen MJB, Geden CJ, Boucias DG. 2011. Salivary gland hypertrophy viruses: a novel group of insect pathogenic viruses. Annual Review of Entomology 56: 63-80.

Ali JG, Alborn HT, Stelinski LL. 2011. Herbivore- and non-induced subterranean plant signals attract both entomopathogenic and plant parasitic nematodes. Journal of Ecology 99: 26-35.

Tiwari S, Pelz-Stelinski K, Stelinski LL. 2011. Effect of Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus infection on susceptibility of Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri, to selected insecticides. Pest Management Science 67: 94-99.

Huang J, Stelinski LL, Gut LJ. 2010. Mating behaviors of Cydia pomonella (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) as influenced by sex pheromone in electrostatic powder. Journal of Economic Entomology 103: 2100-2106.

Tiwari S, Lewis-Rosenblum H, Pelz-Stelinski K, Stelinski LL. 2010. Incidence of Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus infection in abandoned citrus occurring in proximity to commercially managed groves. Journal of Economic Entomology 103: 1972-1978.

Hanspetersen HN, McSorley R, Liburd OE. 2010. The impact of intercropping squash with non-crop vegetation borders on the above-ground arthropod community. Florida Entomologist 93: 590-608.

Rodriguez-Saona CR, Polavarapu S, Barry JD, Polk D, Jornsten R, Oudemans PV, Liburd OE. 2010. Color preference, seasonality, spatial distribution and species composition of thrips (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) in northern highbush blueberries. Crop Protection 29: 1331-1340.

Roubos CR, Liburd OE. 2010. Evaluation of emergence traps for monitoring blueberry gall midge (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) adults and within field distribution of midge infestation. Journal of Economic Entomology 103: 1258-1267.

Roubos CR, Liburd OE. 2010. Pupation and emergence of blueberry gall midge, Dasineura oxycoccana (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae), under varying temperature conditions. Florida Entomologist 93: 283-290.

Cannings RA, Branham MA, McVickar RH. 2010. The light-producing fireflies (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) of British Columbia. Journal of the Entomological Society of British Columbia 107: 1-9.

Bocak L, Branham MA, Kundrata R. 2010. Drilidae. pp. 104-109. In Beutel RG, Leschen RAB (editors). Handbuch der Zoologie, Band IV Arthropoda: Insecta, Teilband 39, Evolution and Systematics. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin.

Branham MA. 2010. Lampyridae. pp. 141-147. In Beutel RG, Leschen RAB (editors). Handbuch der Zoologie, Band IV Arthropoda: Insecta, Teilband 39, Evolution and Systematics. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin.

Branham MA. 2010. Plastoceridae. pp. 103-104. In Beutel RG, Leschen RAB (editors). Handbuch der Zoologie, Band IV Arthropoda: Insecta, Teilband 39, Evolution and Systematics. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin.

Costa C, Vanin SA, Lawrence JF, Ide S, Branham MA. 2010. Brachypsectridae. pp. 47-54. In Beutel RG, Leschen RAB (editors). Handbuch der Zoologie, Band IV Arthropoda: Insecta, Teilband 39, Evolution and Systematics. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin.

Kawashima I, Lawrence JF, Branham MA. 2010. Rhagophthalmidae. pp. 135-140. In Beutel RG, Leschen RAB (editors). Handbuch der Zoologie, Band IV Arthropoda: Insecta, Teilband 39, Evolution and Systematics. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin.

Lawrence JF, Kawashima I, Branham MA. 2010. Elateriformia Incertae Sedis. pp. 162-177. In Beutel RG, Leschen RAB (editors). Handbuch der Zoologie, Band IV Arthropoda: Insecta, Teilband 39, Evolution and Systematics. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin.


Library Assistance

Michelle Leonard is the liaison librarian to the Department of Entomology and Nematology. She is available to help our department in various areas. As she states:

"I am happy to assist faculty, staff & students in the department (both on campus and the extension centers) with their research needs, be it literature searching, citation assistance using EndNote, and purchasing books/journals to support the department's research & curriculum needs. I created a research guide specifically for your department at http://guides.uflib.ufl.edu/entomology.

"Throughout the semester I give workshops on various topics, including graduate student orientations to the library databases, EndNote, plagiarism, copyright, open access & author rights. I hope we can work together to disseminate the rich resources offered by the library to your department." — Michelle Leonard, Science & Technology Librarian, Marston Science Library, (352) 273-2866, mleonard@uflib.ufl.edu


Summer Research for Undergraduates

This summer the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station is again sponsoring a summer research intern program. Undergraduate students (juniors and above) in the UF College of Agricultural and Life Sciences will apply to work, and they will be matched up with a research faculty member. They will work for six weeks at $560 per week funded by the Dean for Research Office. The intent of this program is to introduce undergraduates to research and future careers in science.

The letter of invitation to students, frequently asked questions, and application are at our website: http://research.ifas.ufl.edu/.

If faculty are interested in providing a professional work experience on one or more of your CRIS Project objectives, please provide a short description of the project (with the dates and location of employment) by February 11, 2011. The descriptions will be shared with students with the goal of finding a match. In addition, students often come by our office inquiring about intern opportunities; having your research description in our office makes this match-making process easier.

Please call or e-mail me with any questions about the program. Send short research descriptions by e-mail to me at: mlduryea@ufl.edu . — Mary L. Duryea, Associate Dean for Research & Associate Director, Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


Spring 2011 Entomology Seminars

We have a great list of speakers for the Spring 2011 Entomology Seminar Series. You can visit http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/seminar/ for a listing and the most up-to-date information on the seminars, as some presentation titles are not yet provided. If you wish to meet with a speaker while he or she is visiting, please let the organizer (listed for that speaker) know or send me an email. - Dr. Christine Miller


Meetings and Presentations

During 3-4 December 2010, "Termite survey at Chinese pangolin habitat in Taiwan," was presented by H.-F. Li, J.-S. Lin, Y.-C. Lan, J.-C. Pei, and N.-Y. Su at the 31st Annual Meeting of the Taiwan Entomological Society in Miaoli, Taiwan.

Dr. Christine Miller presented a talk at the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, on January 5th. She spoke on "Mate discrimination varies according to context, but in different ways for males and females." She also served as the chair of her session and as a judge for the student presentation competition.

During the ESA meeting, members of the department participated in the the following activities (presentations of papers and posters, sessions moderated, etc.):

• "Solving the hundred-year controversy of Coptotermes taxonomy in Taiwan," by H.-F. Li, N.-Y. Su, and W.-J. Wu.
• "Flight phenology of drywood and dampwood termites (Isoptera: Kalotermitidae) in South Florida," by H.-F. Li, M.T. Ferreira, R.-L. Yang, and N.-Y. Su.
• Dr. Gregg Nuessly gave the presentation "Examination of the significance of sugarcane rust mite (Abacarus sacchari) on sugarcane." The paper was co-authored by Dr. Hardev S. Sandhu, Nicholas Larsen, and Dr. Duli Zhao (USDA-ARS, Sugarcane Field Station, Canal Point, FL). Nuessly was also a moderator for one of the Ph.D. student presentation competition sections. He also gave the presentation "Age-specific tolerance in sugarcane varieties against lesser cornstalk borer (Elasmopalpus lignosellus) feeding." The senior author of the paper was his then post-doctoral associate, Dr. Hardev S. Sandhu.
• Dr. Gaurav Goyal presented the paper "Corn-infesting picture-winged flies: Distribution in field by time and space," and a poster on "Evaluation of potential food sources for development by three species of picture-winged fly (Diptera: Ulidiidae) corn pests." These presentations were coauthored by Drs. Gregg Nuessly, Dakshina Seal, John Capinera, Gary Steck (DPI, Gainesville, FL), and Kenneth Boote (Agronomy). These were topics from Dr. Goyal's research under Dr. Gregg Nuessly.
• Dr. Christine Miller presented the paper "Context-dependence of sexual selection in Narnia femorata."
• Dr. Harsimran Rosie Gill presented the paper "Impact of different organic mulches on the soil surface arthropods community and weeds," co-authored by Drs. Robert McSorley, Gaurav Goyal and Danielle Treadwell. Dr. Gill presented the poster "Integrated impact of soil solarization and organic mulching on insects, weeds, and plant performance," co-authored by Drs. Robert McSorley, Marc Branham, Susan Webb and Gaurav Goyal.
• Alicia Hodson (Branham Lab) presented the paper "The evolution of bioluminescence within the firefly genus Phausis (Coleoptera: Lampyridae)."
• Clare Scott (Branham Lab) presented the paper "A preliminary phylogenetic analysis of the lichen moth subtribe Cisthenina and its position within the tribe Lithosiini (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae: Arctiinae) using morphological data."
• Dr. Marc Branham was invited to contribute a presentation to the "When Entomologists Date: Using Fossils and Molecular Data to Determine Insect Evolutionary Divergence and Biogeography" symposium. He spoke on "Molecules and fossils: Divergence time estimation for studying the evolution of bioluminescence in Coleoptera." Dr. J. Light, Texas A & M, was co-author.

Dr. Amanda Hodges announces that a train-the-trainer introductory webinar for the "Protect U.S. Community Invasive Species Network" is scheduled for Tuesday, 8 February 2011 at 3:00 p.m. ET, 2:00 p.m. CT, 1:00 p.m. MT, 12:00 p.m. PT, and 9:00 a.m. Hawaii-Aleutian time zone. This session will provide basic information on the purpose, content and direction of the Protect U.S. project. Key participants will include IPM coordinators, National Plant Diagnostic Network first detector trainers, and other extension educators from 1862, 1890 and 1994 Land Grant Institutions. The training is also appropriate for other federal and state governmental agency employees involved in invasive species detection and management.

This training is voluntary and offered at no cost to the participants. Interested individuals must register on-line at http://www.ncipmc.org/training/. Once registered, the automated system will provide updates regarding call-in information as well as access to PowerPoint slide sets and other web-based delivery tools that will be used during the training. Although some PowerPoint slide sets will be available in advance, participants should plan to have access to a high-speed internet connection during the training. Some of the web-based demonstrations will only be available through the webinar portion of the session.

If you have questions about the training, please contact Susan Ratcliffe, Director of the North Central IPM Center at 217-333-9656, via email at ipm@illinois.edu. Please share this training announcement with others within your state that would benefit from the sessions.


Grants

Drs. Dan Hahn, Art Edison (UF Medical School), David Allison (University of Alabama, Birmingham), and Ted Morgan (Kansas State University) received a National Science Foundation grant "Integrating physiological and genetic mechanisms to understand the evolution of cold tolerance." The grant was for a total of $790,000 with $440,000 alloted to Dr. Hahn. They will be studying the physiology and genetics of seasonal adaptation in Drosophila melanogaster.

Then Ph.D. student Gaurav Goyal, now Dr. Goyal, received a travel grant of $220 from the Florida Entomological Society to support his travel to the ESA meeting.


Outreach Activities

Thank you to those members and friends of the department who participated in our December outreach activities. We were able to show off our insect zoo and deliver some neat presentations to elementary school children before they were off for winter break.

Here are the outreaches scheduled for January and February:

We need volunteers for the State Fair! Please see the sign=up sheet on the window at the department's main office.

The live critters are always a hit with children and adults alike. The critters are available for you to check out should you be leading an outreach event. If you lead an outreach, please be sure to fill out a documentation form so your event can be included in the newsletter. If you would like to schedule an event or have any outreach questions, go to the Outreach pages on our Bug Club Web site and contact us. Hope you all have a great semester! - Dale A. Halbritter, Outreach Coordinator

Talbot Elementary: Jodi White handles the African giant millipede
and Dale Halbritter handles the Emperor scorpion, which fluoresces under UV light.

The department has several vans available for general use. Personnel are reminded that when returning vans after the administrative office has closed, the vans should be locked and the keys deposited in the "mail slot" on the office door. This ensures that people who reserved the vans for the next day have immediate access to the keys. Placing the keys under the driver's seat in an unlocked van is not an acceptable substitute. The worst case scenario in this case is a stolen van to which no one has access. Keeping the keys in your pocket, lab or office until you remember to turn them in is also discourteous to others as it might affect their work schedule. Some additional guidelines are:

• The vans were acquired for transport of students to the field for laboratory periods. This activity takes precedence over others.
• The vans should only be used for transport of large groups, not as a substitute for regular autos or trucks. It is not logical or economic to use these large, expensive to operate and maintain vehicles as substitutes for small vehicles.
• Anyone needing transport regularly for other than student laboratories should acquire a vehicle for their lab, or rent a vehicle (Avis or Enterprise) if the rate of use does not justify purchase.
• The vans are fine for local transport but are now over 10 years old, so long distance driving should be avoided.

The Reading Room Committee reminds us that no one is allowed to take materials out of the reading room, and no one is allowed to take food or drink in. You are also reminded that Reading Room users are monitored on closed-circuit TV. In addition, the Department just spent $450,000 to install one of the latest scanners that allows us to see what is hidden under your clothing. (Just kidding!) The committee requests that you tidy up after yourself before leaving the room. Those who wish to use the in-room copier should visit the stock room and obtain a PIN from Nick Hostettler.


Scientific Positions Available

• Systematic Entomologist - The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History seeks a systematist to conduct an integrative,collections-based research program focused on terrestrial arthropods or aquatic insects.

  The successful candidate is expected to develop an internationally recognized research program utilizing modern methods, which may include bioinformatics, in pursuing systematic research on Coleoptera, Diptera, Heteroptera, or another terrestrial arthropod or aquatic insect group, with relevance to phylogenetics, genetics, evolution, morphology, behavior, biogeography, biodiversity, ecology, or related fields. Frequent publication of highly regarded papers in competitive, peer-reviewed journals is expected, as is curation of collections in specialty areas, service to the scientific community in leadership capacities, acquisition of external funding, engagement in outreach activities, and mentorship of students.

  The position will be filled at the GS-12 level (salary range is $74,872-$79,864 per year commensurate with experience). For application procedures see: http://www.sihr.si.edu/ or http://www.usajobs.opm.gov/ and refer to Announcement 11A-JW-296508-DEU-NMNH for a Research Entomologist, or contact Jan Williams, 202-633-6363, willija@si.edu. Applications must be received by February 15, 2011. Applicants will be notified by e-mail when their application is received. U.S. citizenship is required. The Smithsonian Institution is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
  
  Newsletter Minutiae

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.

In the last 12 months, the newsletter Web site recorded 162,418 page views.

January 2011.