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ABOVE: If this is the runner-up can you imagine the quality of the winning photo? See the winner and learn more about this photo in the Student and Alumni News section below.
Congratulations to Dr. Daniel Carrillo who received the ESA SEB Award for Excellence in IPM and Dr. Jeff Bloomquist who received the Recognition Award in Insect Physiology, Biochemistry and Toxicology. Dr. Oscar Liburd is the 2018-2019 ESA SEB President.
UF communications visited the Taylor Lab recently for their first episode of Common Curiosity. This episode is about spiders and phobias, featuring some giant 3D spiders, spider coloring books, and Buttercup, one of our bug zoo's sweetest outreach tarantulas.
Dr. Rudi Scheffrahn, Ft. Lauderdale R.E.C., has created a second termite website as a follow-up to his first site. Currently, several hundred images of soldiers curated in the University of Florida Termite Collection have been posted. Additional high-resolution images of soldiers, imagos, enteric valve armatures, and related data from around the world will gradually be added to the site at https://www.termitediversity.org/.
Dr. James P. Cuda participated in a public hearing on aquatic plant management at the Alachua Co. Public Library on February 19th. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has held several public meetings statewide to solicit community input about the agency’s aquatic plant herbicide treatment program. The FWC issued a moratorium on all aquatic plant and algae control efforts until further notice.
ABOVE: Chris Green was hired as an Agriculture Assistant in the Landscape Nematology Lab. Chris transferred to Dr. Crow’s lab from the Plant Science Unit where he has worked for several years. He will primarily be assisting Dr. Crow with field trials.
In the news
Dr. Thomas Chouvenc wrote an op-ed for Insect Sociaux, concerning his upcoming study about the evolution of termite alate size.
Dr. Bryony Bonning in the news: Center combines scientists, industry to manage insects more efficiently.
We had very good representation at the ESA SEB meeting and our students again did very well in the student competitions. In addition, the Linnaean Team (Cory Penca (captain), Jessica Awad, Jason Williams, Morgan Pinkerton. Alternates: Sierra Short, Cleveland Ivey) finished second place and will represent us at the National Meeting in St. Louis. At the meeting Matt Borden received the Friends of IPM award for M.S. Students.
UF Winners at ESA SEB!
Undergraduate Poster I. 2nd place: Christopher Hemphill.
M.S. Poster II. 2nd place: Edward Traczyk.
Undergraduate Oral. 1st place: Trevor Forsberg.
M.S. Oral II. 1st place: Morgan Pinkerton.
M.S. Oral III. 1st place: Gabrielle LaTora, 2nd place: Alexander Gannon.
Ph.D. Oral II. 1st place: Marcelo Rabelo.
EOT All Levels. 1st place: Sage Thompson, 2nd place: Craig Frey.
Two Lucky Lab undergraduate students have been awarded University Scholarships as part of the University Scholarship Program: Jacob Hornfeldt (ENY major) and Lexie Nielsen (former NATL TA).
The entomology team at WFREC participated in the 2019 ESA southeastern meeting in Mobile, Alabama, as noted above two students from Dr. Paula-Moraes’s program won awards in the student competition: Marcelo Rabelo Mendes (visiting scholar from Brazil) won the first place in the Ph.D. Student Oral Presentation Competition, and Chris Hemphill (Plant Science major from Milton) won second place in the Undergraduate Student Poster Competition.
ABOVE: Zach Emberts, a Ph.D. candidate in Dr. Christine Miller’s Lab, spent the last several weeks at the University of Cambridge studying under Dr. Walter Federle. While he was there, he investigated the mechanical properties of insect weapons and defensive structures. This unique opportunity allowed Zach to integrate biomechanical research with insect behavior.
Zachary Kaplan, M.S. student of Dr. Emma Weeks, presented some of his research at the UF Emerging Pathogens Institute Research Day on February 18th. Zach’s poster was entitled Determining the lethal concentration values for fipronil in Amblyomma americanum.
The Urban Entomological Society is looking for new student members! Since 1993, the Urban Entomological Society (UES) at the University of Florida has united graduate and undergraduate students interested in furthering urban entomology. The UES has served the pest management industry at local, state, and national events as a source of publications, insect teaching collections, and buggy apparel.
ABOVE: Members gain incomparable experience interacting with industry members and potential employers under the devoted direction of Dr. Phil Koehler.
For more information or to be added to the club listserv please email ues@ifas.ufl.edu.
Ashley Morris Constance Darrisaw
President Secretary
ABOVE: Jessica Awad, M.S. student in the Hodges' Lab, won first and second prize (top photo on page) in the microphotography category of the ESA Southeastern Branch Photo Salon. The winning photo shows the lateral habitus of a Synopeas specimen after non-destructive DNA extraction. The runner-up shows the diagnostic dorsal characters of Horismenus ignotus Burks, reared from palm leaf skeletonizer by Lyle Buss.
Ph.D. student, Casey Parker, received the Hollandsworth Prize (1st place in the student competition) at the annual American Mosquito Control Association conference. She presented part of her dissertation research on how pyrethroid resistance influences susceptibility to infection of Aedes aegypti with Zika virus.
Need to name that bug? A host of experts are available to help Floridians identify any insect or related arthropod. If a mystery creature has six or more legs, the UF Insect ID Lab is the place to call.
ABOVE: This striking weevil is the avocado weevil, Heilipus apiatus. It is probably found throughout the state, but in south Florida it can be a pest of avocado. Larvae feed in the cambium layer at the base of the tree, and occasionally can girdle the tree. Dr. Joe Cicero photographed this weevil at Etoniah Creek State Forest in Putnam County. Thanks for the picture, Joe!
If you need insect images for a publication or presentation for your UF/IFAS Extension or teaching work, you can go to this direct link, pictures are copyrighted material and intended for official UF use only. Log onto the website using your Gatorlink credentials.
Lyle Buss is the UF/IFAS Insect ID Lab manager.
Think it might be a nematode problem? The Nematode Assay Laboratory serves Florida and other states by providing nematode assays and expert advice regarding nematode management.
For more information on the Nematode Assay Laboratory, please contact the lab manager Dr. Billy Crow.
Lucky A, Branham MA, Atchison RA. 2019. Collections-based education in person and online: Academic dishonesty and learning outcomes. Journal of Science Education and Technology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-019-9770-8.
Sloyer KE, Burkett-Cadena ND, Yang A, Corn JL, Vigil SL, McGregor BL, Wisely SM, Blackburn JK. 2019. Ecological niche modeling the potential geographic distribution of four Culicoides species of veterinary significance in Florida, USA. PloS One. 15;14(2):e0206648.
Zhang M, Yang C, Powell CA, Avery PB, Wang J, Huang Y, Duan Y. 2019. Field evaluation of integrated management for mitigating citrus Huanglongbing in Florida. Frontiers in Plant Science 9: 1890 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2018.01890.
New on Featured Creatures:
giant water scavenger beetle, Hydrophilus triangularis Say. Authors: Tanner Felbinger, Oliver Keller, and Andrea Lucky.
Do you have a favorite creature? Learn how to make it into a Featured Creatures!
Dr. Andrea Lucky was an invited speaker at a symposium at the University of South Florida interdisciplinary symposium: Planet of Weeds: Natural Histories of the Homogeocene, on March 1st. She delivered a presentation entitled Planet of the ants in the age of the Anthropocene.
Dr. Jennifer Gillett-Kaufman was an invited panelist at the 2019 CALS Teaching Retreat held at the Reitz Union on February 21st. The panel discussed best practices for providing faculty course peer reviews.
Dr. Jennifer Gillett-Kaufman was an invited speaker and panelist at the 2019 American Olive Oil Producers Association (AOOPA) Annual Member Meeting and the Georgia Olive Growers Association Conference in Jekyll Island, Georgia on February 23rd. Her talk covered UF research findings and the panel discussed best practices for establishing new olive groves. Her talk focused on the research done by Eleanor Phillips (who attended the meeting) and by researchers at the WFREC. Both studies were funded by FDACS Specialty Crop Block Grants.
Dr. Billy Crow presented “Organic amendments, biostimulants, root enhancers, etc. as tools for nematode management” at Florida Turfgrass Association seminars in Cocoa Beach, Plant City and Fort Myers on January 31st, February 12th, and 14th, respectively.
Dr. Billy Crow presented “How nematicides work” at golf course meetings in Hilton Head SC, Kiawah Island SC, and Hot Springs AR on February 19th, 20th, and 26th, respectively.
ABOVE: The University of Florida’s 34th School of Structural Fumigation was held at the Ft. Lauderdale R.E.C. February 18th to the 22nd. The semiannual "Fume School" provides classroom, laboratory, and field training for pest control professionals who wish to supervise or conduct fumigations of buildings and goods against various pest infestations. Since its inception, the Fume School has been attended by 1,435 students. This remains the only school of its kind in the world.
This latest class included 59 students from Florida, Georgia, Texas, North Carolina, Hawaii, Colorado, Missouri, Italy, The Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, and Trinidad and Tobago. The school prepared students who opted to take the Florida State certification exams in fumigation. Dr. Thomas Chouvenc, Dr. Rudi Scheffrahn, Dr. Bill Kern, and Renny Perez coordinated the school which brings expert instruction from manufacturers (Bayer, Douglas, Ensystex), suppliers (Cardinal, Univar), fumigators (Dead Bug Edwards, Central Fumigation, and Emory Brantley & Sons), regulators (FLDACS), Florida Department of Transportation, USDA, and Certified Pest Control Operators of Florida.
Dr. Thomas Chouvenc was invited to give a seminar at the South Carolina Pest Control Association annual meeting (SCPCA), in Greenville SC, on February 11th.
ABOVE: The Advanced Mosquito Identification and Certification Course is being held at the Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory in Vero Beach, FL March 4th to the 15th. Instructors Dr. Nathan Burkett-Cadena and Dr. Derrick Mathias teach a two-week comprehensive course of the identification of adult female and larval mosquitoes of North America, with the assistance of Jason Stuck, Pinellas County Mosquito Control, and Kristin Sloyer, UF Grad student. Photos by Jim Newman.
Laurel Lietzenmayer and Dr. Lisa Taylor attended the International Arachnology Congress in Christchurch, New Zealand. Laurel presented a talk on color patterns as deterrents of sexual cannibalism in jumping spiders, and Lisa presented a talk on how a mosquito-specialist jumping spider from Kenya uses color and odor to find mosquitoes. UF Entomology and Nematology alumna Erin Powell (now a PhD student in New Zealand) was also there presenting her work on unusual weaponry in harvestmen.
Dr. James P. Cuda was an invited speaker for the 2019 Southwest Florida Annual Invasive Species Symposium held at Florida Gulf Coast University, 26 February. Cuda gave a presentation titled, “Brazilian peppertree psyllid Calophya terebinthifolii (Hemiptera: Calophyidae): Native range impact assessment.”
Dr. James P. Cuda, Dr. Rebecca Baldwin, Dr. Jennifer Gillett-Kaufman, and Dr. Heather McAuslane, attended the annual CALS Teaching Retreat 2019 held at the Reitz Union on February 21st.
Dr. James P. Cuda was co-author of an oral presentation by his Ph.D. student Patricia Prade titled, “Biological Control of Brazilian Peppertree in Florida.” The presentation was part of the S1073 Biocontrol Symposium held the ESA-SEB annual meeting, Mobile, AL, March 3rd to 6th.
Patricia Prade, a Ph.D. student in the laboratories of Dr. James P. Cuda and Dr. Carey R. Minteer, gave a presentation on biological control of Brazilian peppertree at the 7th Biennial FWC-IFAS Research Review held at the Orange Co. Cooperative Extension Office, Orland Florida, March 5th to 7th.
Dr. James P. Cuda and Dr. Norman C. Leppla attended the meeting of S1073 Multistate Regional Project, “Biological Control of Arthropod Pests and Weeds” held in conjunction with the 93rd Annual Meeting of the ESA-Southern Branch, Mobile, AL, March 3rd to 6th. Dr. Cuda is the official FAES representative for Florida.
This February, Robert Entzian presented his research on weapon variation in the leaf-footed bug Thasus neocalifornicus at the 2019 Florida Undergraduate Research Conference in Jacksonville, Florida. Robert is an undergraduate researcher in Dr. Christine Miller’s Lab.
ABOVE: February 18th to 21st the entomology lab in West Florida Research and Education Center held the workshop: Principles and methods for toxicological bioassays with insect pests. All of the entomology team members participated in the event, including Dr. Paula-Moraes’s master students Jessica Baldwin, Tyler Shaw, and Xiomara Flores.
From the Outreach Coordinator
February Outreach Events:
Feb 5th- Department Tour: Dr. Baldwin
Feb 7th- Home school presentation: Alex Orfinger, Clayton Bania
Feb 7th- State Fair: Dr. Baldwin
Feb 8th- State Fair: Kylie Lenon
Feb 9th-State Fair: Richard West, Diana Rojas, Xiaodi Wang, Rebecca Zimler, Abdullah Alomar
Feb 10th-State Fair: Abby Prohofsky, DJ Mcduffie, Lindsey Wheeler
Feb 11th-State Fair: Zach Kaplan, Caitlin Taylor, Elise Richardson ,Madison Gibonney
Feb 12th- State Fair: Clayton Bania, Dr. Baldwin, Constance Darisaw
Feb 13th-State Fair: Dr. Dickson, Dr. Maquilan, Jeanny
Feb 14th- State Fair: Yuexun Tian, Xiao Li, Mengyi Gu
Feb 15th- State Fair: Sage Thompson, Morgan Pinkerton
Feb 16th- State Fair: Becca Perry, Mark Wilheim
Feb 17th- State Fair: Ashely Morris, Caitlin Sollazzo, Dr. Cicero
Feb 18th- State Fair: Sarah Steele Cabrera, Constance Darisaw
ABOVE: We want to give a huge THANK YOU!!! For everyone that helped with the State Fair! The event was a long eight hours every day for two weeks and coupled with a two hour drive, it was a full day commitment. Thank you for everyone who signed up and made this event run smoothly!
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. We have doubles of our most popular critters, as well as various native insect species depending on the time of year. We have large wood and Plexiglas cages for viewing our native orb weaving spiders. There is one travel cage and one larger static cage. Please be sure to contact us and review the protocol on transporting and handling the critters if you are not already familiar with it. If you lead an outreach, be sure to fill out a documentation form so your event can be included in the newsletter and we can log all outreach events.
If you have any questions, please email me.
Thank you —Clayton Bania, Outreach Coordinator.
If you would like to schedule an event or have any outreach questions, go to the Outreach pages on our Bug Club website and contact us.
Getting social!
We have several social media sites for the Entomology & Nematology Department. To make them easily searchable, all three (YouTube, Facebook and Twitter) have the same page name: UFEntomology. Please share these links with past students or colleagues who may have an interest in departmental activities.
Announcing the 102nd meeting of the Florida Entomological Society
Hold the date and plan to attend the annual meeting of the Florida Entomological Society, July 21 to the 24th in Jupiter, Florida!
This year will be back at the Jupiter Beach Resort and Spa which has been a wonderful venue for our meeting in the past (https://www.jupiterbeachresort.com/). Rooms will be $139/night (single/double occupancy or quad for students), with no resort fee, and government rate rooms will also be available. Plan to bring your family and enjoy the same room rates for up to three days before or after the meeting. Look for announcements soon requesting symposia topics, your submitted and student competition papers, member honors and awards nominations, and student scholarships, travel awards and mini-grants. We will be working hard to assemble an exciting and diverse scientific program and look forward to seeing you there.
Your FES annual meeting organizing team,
Heather McAuslane, Jawwad Qureshi, Gregg Nuessly and Teresa Duchene
The 2019 Termite Course registration is open for non-credit students. This weeklong course is an in-depth session on general termite biology, and will focus on evolution, ecology, symbiosis, behavior, and control. The course will be provided by a panel of 12 international instructors with robust knowledge of termite biology. The course will take place on June 3rd to the 8th, 2019 at the Ft. Lauderdale Research and Education Center.
Want to stay up to date? Check out our website home page for a link to our Google calendar.
Dr. Jennifer Gillett-Kaufman is the newsletter editor and does the HTML coding. Issues usually are published by mid-month. Submit items for an issue by the seventh of that month.
We like to share news when it happens using our social media outlets: Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Follow us on these sites for daily updates! When you send news, we will post it on one or more of these sites and again in the monthly newsletter. Please be sure you have permission from people in photographs you submit for publication.
UF-Bugnews-L listserv subscribers receive notices when issues are posted. Our home page has instructions for subscribing and unsubscribing.
Special thanks to Eleanor Phillips and Nancy Sanders, who reviewed the newsletter for errors, and to Jane Medley and Don Wasik, who built the web page design.
Give Back
Want to support the UF Entomology & Nematology Department? Consider making an online gift today! Questions can be directed to Christy Chiarelli at (352) 392-1975 or ccw@ufl.edu.
PO Box 110620, 970 Natural Area Drive, Steinmetz Hall, Gainesville, FL 32611
Phone: 352-273-3901, Fax: 352-392-0190
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