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ABOVE: Dr. Christine W. Miller is at the University of Cambridge, UK until July 30th. She was elected to be a Visiting Fellow in Sidney Sussex College for the Easter Term. During her time in Cambridge, Dr. Miller will be conducting research on the evolution of insect behavior.
Dr. Marc Branham was quoted in the “Ask Smithsonian” section of the April 2018 issue of Smithsonian Magazine in reference to a reader’s question “How come I see fireflies in New York, Illinois, Iowa and all through the South, but not in the West?”
ABOVE: Dr. Phil Kaufman was awarded the 2018 McClure Outstanding Advisor of the Year by the Fraternity of Alpha Zeta. Founded in 1897, Alpha Zeta is an honorary, professional society for students and industry professionals in the agriculture and natural resources fields.
Dr. James P. Cuda and his research on the aquatic weed hydrilla were featured on Cox cable, Channel 6, on April 15th.
ABOVE: Just a few of our new graduates with their faculty escorts!
We are proud of our spring 2018 graduates!
Earning Ph.D. degrees this semester are:
Dr. Jade Badon, Dr. Brittany Campbell, Dr. William Heve, Dr. Lindsy Iglesias, Dr. Haleigh Ray, and Dr. Denise Tan.
Our new MS graduates are:
Harry Burman, Ann Carias, Benjamin Gillenwaters, Michael Hull, Nicholas Johnston, Arjun Khadka, Kristen Sloyer, Danielle Sprague, and Melissa Vizza.
Graduating with a BS degree this spring are:
Magda Bosco, Erinn Campbell, Katherine Carroll, Able Chow, Sarah Nguyentran, George Richardson, Kimberly Utz, and Rachel Watson.
The 2018 winner of the Nutting Research Grant is Reina Tong, who will receive $2,500 to support her research this summer. Reina is a Ph.D. student in the lab of Dr. Nan-Yao Su. The William L. and Ruth D. Nutting Research Grant supports graduate student research in the field of basic termite biology. It offers funding to a student whose proposed research shows the greatest potential to increase our understanding of this important group of social insects.
Ms. Rachel Watson, a USP student in the laboratory of Dr. James P. Cuda, was featured in the April 9th issue of the Independent Florida Alligator. Her $2,000 research grant from the Weed Science Society of America was highlighted in the Research Roundup Section.
Dr. Lindsy Iglesias, from Oscar Liburd’s lab, graduated with her Ph.D. this spring. She has accepted a post-doctoral research position with Dr. Brian Nault at Cornell University’s New York State Agricultural Experiment Station (NYSAES) in Geneva, NY. Congratulations Lindsy!
ABOVE: Marcelo Mendes Rabelo is a Ph.D. student from the Universidade Federal de Vicosa, in Brazil and will be working in the research program of Dr. Paula-Moraes as a visiting researcher for two years. He will study the stress response and life history in the evolution of resistance to Bt plants, with focus on hormesis and population fitness in Spodoptera spp. and Helicoverpa zea.
ABOVE: Entomology graduate students Kristin Sloyer, Bethany McGregor, Alfred Runkel, and Laura Harmon presented a booth alongside Wildlife Ecology and Conservation colleagues in the Cervidae Health Research Initiative (CHeRI) at the Southeastern Trophy Deer Association annual meeting in Orlando, FL on April 14. Entomology graduate students presented information on Culicoides spp. ecology, Culicoides-borne viruses affecting white-tailed deer, and administered pesticide use surveys to Florida deer farmers. From left to right: John Hooker, Dr. Juan Campos, Alfred Runkel, Dr. Samantha Wisely, Laura Harmon, Hannah Barber, Kristin Sloyer, and Bethany McGregor.
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: Dr. Andrei Sourakov created this montage comparing two common longtail skippers. On the left is the Dorantes Longtail (Urbanus dorantes) and on the right is the Long-tailed skipper (Urbanus proteus). The caterpillars are shown on one of their common hostplants, Desmodium, and all pictures were taken in NATL. Thanks, Andrei!
Need insect images? 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.
Avery PB, Bojorque V, Gámez C, Duncan RE, Carrillo D, Cave RD. 2018. Spore acquisition and survival of ambrosia beetles associated with the laurel wilt pathogen in avocados after exposure to entomopathogenic fungi. Insects DOI:10.3390/insects9020049
Bahder BW, Helmick EE, Mou D, Harrison NA, Davis R. 2018. Digital PCR technology for detection of palm infecting phytoplasmas belonging to group 16SrIV that occur in Florida. Plant Disease 102: 1008-1014.
Dey KK, Jeyaprakash A, Hansen J, Jones D, Smith T, Davison D, Srivastava P, Bahder B, Li C, Sun X. 2018. First report of the 16SrIV-D phytoplasma associated with decline of a Bismark palm (Bismarckia nobilis). Plant Health Progress 19: 128.
Jaffe BD, Avanesyan A, Bal HK, Feng Y, Grant J, Grieshop MJ, Lee JC, Liburd OE, Rhodes E, Rodriguez-Saona C, Sial AA, Zhang A, Guédot C. 2018. Multistate comparison of attractants and the impact of fruit development stage on trapping Drosophila suzukii (Diptera: Drosophilidae) in raspberry and blueberry. Environmental Entomology DOI: 10.1093/ee/nvy052
Kumar V, Francis A, Avery PB, McKenzie CL, Osborne LS. 2018. Assessing compatibility of Isaria fumosorosea and buprofezin for mitigation of Aleurodicus rugioperculatus (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae): An invasive pest in the Florida landscape. Journal of Economic Entomology DOI: 10.1093/jee/toy056
Zhou Y, Avery PB, Carrillo D, Duncan RE, Lukowsky A, Cave RD, Keyhani, NO. 2018. Identification of the Achilles heels of the laurel wilt pathogen and its beetle vector. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology DOI: .org/10.1007/s00253-018-9037-y.
New on Featured Creatures:
Delta flower beetle, Trigonopeltastes delta (Forster 1771). Authors: Brandon Jones and Andrea Lucky
Pale damsel bug, Nabis capsiformis Germar. Authors: Karol L. Krey and Justin M. Renkema
Do you have a favorite creature? Learn how to make it into a Featured Creatures!
Dr. James P. Cuda presented a poster on his cogongrass biological control research at the ESA International Branch’s Inaugural Virtual Symposium, 16-18 April. Cuda’s poster, which was titled “The gall midge Orseolia javanica (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae): a candidate biological control agent of cogongrass (Imperata cylindrica)” was co-authored by Dr. William Overholt and Purnama Hidayat.
Dr. James P. Cuda was an invited speaker for the 2018 Florida Vegetation Management Association Annual Conference held in Daytona Beach, 18-20 April. Cuda gave two presentations; one on biological control of Brazilian peppertree titled “Yellow Brazilian peppertree leaf-galler Calophya latiforceps (Hemiptera: Calophyidae): Coming to a BP infestation near you.” The other was titled,y “Progress on biocontrol of the invasive cogongrass (Imperata cylindrica).”
On May 2nd, Dr. Michael Forthman, a postdoc in the Miller Lab, gave an invited presentation titled “Legging Across Southern Africa” for the Friends of the Entomology Research Museum at the University of California Riverside.
Dr. Thomas Chouvenc held a full day workshop on the biology of subterranean termites on April 17th at the FLREC, to a group 40 representatives from the south Florida pest control industry. The workshop covered detailed aspects of the complex biology of subterranean termite colonies and how it impacts the efficiency of various treatments. In April, more than 40,000 alates from Coptotermes formosanus and Coptotermes gestroi were captured alive by the Chouvenc team in Fort Lauderdale, with two light traps. Another successful swarming season as the termite alates were used to initiate a series of experiments, which will keep the Chouvenc lab busy for the coming year.
Dr. Oscar Liburd was invited to present to >100 blueberry growers from around the world at the International Blueberry Meeting in Gainesville. His presentation was titled “Recent developments in blueberry pest management.”
Simon Yeboah, a Ph.D. student in Oscar Liburd’s lab, presented a poster titled “Comparison of lures for monitoring Caribbean fruit flies, Anastrepha suspensa (Diptera: Tephritidae) in guava orchards” at the 10th International Symposium on Fruit Flies of Economic Importance (ISFFEI) that was held in Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico, April 22-28, 2018. As part of the conference, participants were given the opportunity to visit the Moscafrut Fruit Fly and Biological Control Agents Rearing Facility in Metapa, Chiapas, Mexico and see a demonstration of the Area-Wide Fly Release using drones.
ABOVE: Drone for fly release (left) and Simon Yeboah presenting his research at the 10th ISFFEI (right).
Lorena Lopez, a Ph.D. student in Oscar Liburd’s lab, gave a poster presentation titled “Sustainable Management Strategies for Management of Key Insect and Nematode Pests in Squash Cropping Systems” at the SARE Our Farms, Our Future Conference in St. Louis, Missouri, April 3rd to the 5th.
From the Outreach Coordinator
Here are our events from April:
- April 5th – Westwood Middle Kids in the Woods Night – Laurel Lietzenmayer
- April 12th – State FFA Officers – Dr. Rebecca Baldwin and Laurel Lietzenmayer
- April 16th – Classical Conversations – Laurel Lietzenmayer and Ana Carvalho
- April 18th – Vanguard High School – Haleigh Ray
- April 20th – Cornerstone Academy – Lettie Cronin and Laurel Lietzenmayer
- April 21st – Earth Day Festival at Lecanto Extension Office – Laurel Lietzenmayer
- April 23rd – Ambleside School of Ocala – Laurel Lietzenmayer and Ana Carvalho
Upcoming Events:
- May 10th – Family Science Night at Williams Elementary
- May 11th – Littlewood Elementary
- May 16th – Newberry Elementary
- May 17th – Newberry Community School
- May 23rd – Idylwild STEAM Night
- May 24th – Hidden Oak Science Symposium
- May 30th – Metcalfe Career Day
ABOVE: Ph.D. Candidate, Ana Paula Carvalho, speaking with students from Ambleside School of Ocala about Lepidoptera and her research in the McGuire Center.
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 — Laurel Lietzenmayer, 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.
FES Honors and Awards 2018
The Honors and Awards Committee are requesting nominations for 2018 in the following categories:
Entomologist of the Year
Annual Achievement Award for Research
Annual Achievement Award for Extension
Annual Achievement Award for Industry
Annual Achievement Award for Teaching
Annual Achievement Award for Regulatory Entomology
Achievement Award for a Collaborative Research Team
Winners will be announced at the 2018 Annual Meeting. Each nomination should be accompanied with a justification narrative that will be read at the awards luncheon.
Nomination deadline is June 20th, 2018.
You can see previous winners at http://www.flaentsoc.org/honors-awards-tributes.html
Nominations should be sent to
Jawwad Qureshi [Chair, Honors and Awards Committee]
University of Florida, IFAS
Indian River Research and Education Center
Fort Pierce, FL 34945
Ph: 772-577-7339
Fax: 772-468-5668
E-mail: jawwadq@ufl.edu
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.
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Special thanks to Haleigh Ray 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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