NEWSLETTER
July - August 2001 Entomology and Nematology News
Entomology and Nematology Student Organization
A University of Florida Publication

AWARDS

Several entomology-nematology faculty have been recognized for their sustained performance. Those receiving the salary performance plan awards were: Arshad Ali, Dov Borovsky, Drion Boucias, John Capinera, Carl Childers, Don Dickson, J. Howard Frank, Don Hall, Marjorie Hoy, Phil Koehler, Pauline Lawrence, Phil Lounibos, Clay McCoy, Bob McSorley, J.K. Nayar, Herb Nigg, Russ Mizell, Dave Schuster, Grover Smart, and Jim Tsai.

Fahiem El-Borai Kora received Third Place in the student paper competition at the annual meeting of the Soil and Crop Science Society of Florida. He has also been awarded the Davidson Graduate Student Scholarship for 2001 ($250) to attend The Society of Nematologists international meeting in Salt Lake City August 24-29.

The School IPM Team has been awarded a FES Team Award for the School IPM Web site and program. Dr. Capinera has also nominated them for an IFAS Extension Team Award.

Dr. James P. Cuda accepted an invitation by Dean Humphrey to become an affiliate faculty member in the College of Natural Resources.

Florida Entomological Society Student Affairs Committee Awards 2001 Minigrants of $100 were awarded to nine students to help defer costs of equipment, resources and supplies important for the completion of their research activities. Applicants were scored on the basis of provided budgets, justifications and research descriptions. Award winners listed in order of scores starting with highest are Cynthia Khoo, Barry Alto, Deanna Branscome, Marco Toapanta, Raul Villanueva, Cynthia Linton Tucker, Shawn Brooks, Kathryn Barbara and Hector Cabrera-Mireles.

Seven students were awarded $100 travel grants to offset expenses of attending the 2001 Florida Entomological Society Annual Meeting held at Hutchinson Island, Florida August 5 to 8 at the Marriott Beach Resort and Marina. Barry Alto, Kathryn Barbara, Deanna Branscome, Hector Cabrera-Mireles, Cynthia Linton Tucker and Raul Villanueva were honored for their successful applications at the awards banquet on August 7th. Florida Entomological Society Student Scholarships were awarded to the top three applicants. Students were asked to submit statements of their research and goals, curriculum vitae, transcripts and two letters of recommendation. Ten students competed for the scholarships this year. The successful packages represented a considerable time investment by the students to summarize and quantify their numerous activities and accomplishments and indicate the high level of commitment they bring to our science and community. This year we congratulate the following students for winning $500 FES Student Scholarships: Deanna Branscome, Cynthia Khoo and Dina Richman.

Contestants in the Student Paper Competition got a chance to show off their research findings, and organizational, presentation and speaking skills to an eager audience at the Hutchinson Island venue. Sixteen students did their best to impress the judges and vie for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place prize monies of $200, $150 and $125, respectively. The 1st place paper was presented by Dina Richman and was entitled "The effects of elevated soil pH from masonry cement on residual soil termiticide performance". Scotty Long was awarded 2nd place with his paper "Recent additions to the Mayflies (Insecta: Ephemeroptera) of Tennessee and discussion of endemic species from the central basin". The presentation "Precipitation and temperature effects on populations of Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae): implications for range expansion" by Barry Alto was awarded 3rd place.

GRANTS

Dr. James P. Cuda was awarded a one-year grant for $24,203 from the USDA, CSREES Tropical and Subtropical Agricultural Research (T-STAR) Competitive Grants Program to initiate a project on classical biological control of strawberry or cattley guava, Psidium cattleianum, which is an invasive weed of natural areas and one of the main host plants for the Caribfly, Anastrepha suspensa.

Drs. James P. Cuda and Norman C. Leppla were awarded a two-year grant for $49,919 from the USDA Southern Region Sustainable Research and Education (SARE) Professional Development Program to develop educational materials and in-service training programs for County Extension Faculty in IPM emphasizing biological control practices.

Andy Rasmussen received two awards for his research at the North American Benthological Society meeting: $500 Graduate Student Research Award and a $300 travel award from the Boesel- Sanderson Endowment Fund.

MEETINGS

Drs. Julio Medal, James Cuda, and Waldemar Klassen in collaboration with Mr. Alberto Sediles and Dr. Fredy Aleman (Universidad Nacional Agraria de Nicaragua), and Mr. Daniel Gandolfo and Hugo Cordo (director of the USDA-ARS South American Biological Control Laboratory, Argentina) are organizing the "First Latin American Short-Course on Biological Control of Weeds" that will be held June 24-28, 2002 at the Hotel Barcelo in Montelimar, Nicaragua. The main purpose of this course is to provide participants with basic understanding of the principles and concepts of biological control of weeds using insects and pathogens. This course will bring together about 20 international experts in all aspects of weed biocontrol, and approximately 40-60 trainees representing at least 15 developing countries. For additional information or registration please contact Dr. Julio Medal, course coordinator.

Ms. Lucy Treadwell and Dr. Julio Medal traveled from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Bella Vista, Paraguay--a total of 600 miles--and then around Curitiba, Brazil, in March in search of insects for biological control of Brazilian peppertree and tropical soda apple. In Argentina and Paraguay they were driven by Daniel Gandolfo, of the USDA, and assisted in the field by Diana Ohashi, technician at the INTA-Cerro Azul Experiment Station. They got a unique view of the countryside--from inside cow pastures, where they had to be on the alert for "vacas locas", snakes, and Africanized bees. That segment of the trip concluded with a pleasant afternoon at the spectacular Iguazu Falls (> 200 waterfalls), at the borders of Brazil and Argentina. In Brazil they were taken into the field by Drs. Henrique Pedrosa and Marcelo Vitorino of the University of Curitiba. Lucy is now taking intensive Spanish-Portuguese classes to be prepared for a second trip to South America.

Dr. Julio Medal was an invited speaker at the "II International Biological Control Meeting of the Neotropical Region" held in Varadero, Cuba from June 10-15. Medal gave a presentation on "Perspective and Limitations for Biological Control of Weeds in Latin America".

Andy Rasmussen recently traveled to Lacrosse, Wisconsin for the annual meeting of the North American Benthological Society. Andy presented results from his dissertation in a talk titled: "Trichoptera and Plecoptera Assemblages from Ravine Streams in North Florida: Biodiversity and Distributional Patterns".

Dr. Phil Stansly went on a year's sabbatical to Aguilas (Murcia) Spain with his family June 26. He will be working with Koppert Biological Systems to help develop biological controls for vegetable pests of greenhouses in Southern Spain, Morocco and the Canary Islands.

Drs. James P. Cuda and Julio C. Medal attended the VII Simposio de Controle Biologico held in Pocos de Caldas, Minas Gerais, Brazil, 3-7 June. Cuda and Medal were co-authors on four poster presentations involving collaborative research with Brazilian scientists on various aspects of classical biological control of Brazilian peppertree, Schinus terebinthifolius, and tropical soda apple, Solanum viarum.

As Chair-Elect for Section C (Biology, Ecology and Behavior), Dr. James P. Cuda attended the ESA's Program Committee Planning Meeting held at the Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, CA, 14-15 July. The 2001 Annual Meeting of the ESA will be held at this site 9- 12 December.

Dr. James P. Cuda attended the Second Natural Resources Forum on Watershed Science, Policy, Planning, and Management held in Tampa, FL, 19-21 June.

Drs. John L. Capinera, James P. Cuda, Marjorie A. Hoy and Philip G. Koehler attended the 2001 Florida FIRST Stakeholder's conference held in Orlando, FL, 27-29 June.

Dr. James P. Cuda accepted an invitation by Dr. Norman C. Leppla to deliver his oral presentation on "Advancing Augmentation Biological Control from Research to Application" at the VII Simposio de Controle Biologico held in Pocos de Caldas, Minas Gerais, Brazil, 3-7 June

PUBLICATIONS

Medal, J.C., D. Sudbrink, D. Gandolfo, D. Ohashi, and J.P. Cuda. 2001. Gratiana boliviana, a potential Biocontrol agent of Solanum viarum: Quarantine host-specificity testing in Florida and field surveys in South America. Bio Control 46 : 1-17.

Medal J.C. 2001. Perspectives and limitations for the implementations of biological control of weeds in Latin America. In: Abstracts II Latin American Congress- Neotropical Section of the International Organization for Biological Control. p. 131.

Cuda, J. P., B. R. Coon, Y. M. Dao, and T. D. Center. 2001. Biological control of hydrilla, Hydrilla verticillata (Hydrocharitaceae), in the Crystal River watershed by the tip mining midge Cricotopus lebetis (Diptera: Chironomidae), pp. 15-16. Abstracts of the Natural Resources Forum: Watershed Science, Policy, Planning, and Management- Can We Make It Work?, Tampa, FL, June 2001.

Cuda, J. P., N. J. Szabo, H. K. Abbas, and G. R. Buckingham. 2001. Occurrence of vertebrate toxins in two sawflies (Hymenoptera: Pergidae) that are candidates for classical biological control of weeds in the USA, p. 313. Abstracts of the VII Symposium of Biological Control, Pocos de Caldas, Minas Gerais, Brazil, June 2001.

Harmuch, D. A., J. H. Pedrosa-Macedo, J. P. Cuda, and M. D. Vitorino. 2001. Biological aspects of Pseudophilothrips ichini (Hood, 1949) (Thysanoptera, Tubulifera: Phlaeothripidae) on Schinus terebinthifolius Raddi (Anacardiaceae), p. 30. Abstracts of the VII Symposium of Biological Control, Pocos de Caldas, Minas Gerais, Brazil, June 2001.

Simoes, C. G., J. H. Pedrosa-Macedo, M. D. Vitorino, and J. P. Cuda. 2001. Occurrence and distribution of Calophpya terebinthifolii (Homoptera: Psyllidae) on Brazilian peppertree, Schinus terebinthifolius, at the first plateau and littoral region of Parana state, Brazil, p. 325. Abstracts of the VII Symposium of Biological Control, Pocos de Calda, Minas Gerais, Brazil, June 2001

With duplication costs recovered, the department has reduced the price of three CD-ROMs on insects sold by the University of Florida.

MCricket - Alternative Methods of Mole Cricket Control is now just $10 (old price $25). WoodyBug - Pest and Beneficials of Southern Ornamentals is now just $20 (old price $30). Pests In and Around the Home - structural, food, landscape and turfgrass pests is now just $30 (old price $50).

FEATURED CREATURES

The UF Entomology and Nematology Department and the FDACS Division of Plant Industry have added files on the following organisms to the Featured Creatures WWW site at:

Wang, K.H. Reniform nematode, Rotylenchulus reniformis Linford & Oliveira.

Cuda, J. P., S.A. Wineriter, G.R. Buckingham, T.D. Center, and K.T. Gioeli. Melaleuca snout beetle, Oxyops vitiosa (Pascoe).

Su, N., R.H. Scheffrahn, and B. Cabrera. Native subterranean termites, Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar), Reticulitermes virginicus (Banks), Reticulitermes hageni Banks.

Nguyen, R., A.B. Hamon and T.R. Fasulo. Cloudywinged whitefly, Dialeurodes citrifolii (Morgan).

Thomas, M.C., J.B. Heppner, R.E. Woodruff, H.V. Weems and T.R. Fasulo. Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann).

Mead, F.W., and T.R. Fasulo. Darkwinged fungus gnats, Bradysia spp.

Capinera, J.L. Yellowstriped armyworm, Spodoptera ornithogalli (Guenee).

Capinera, J.L. Sugarcane borer, Diatraea saccharalis (Fabricius).

New text and/or photographs were added to the files on: Mexican fruit fly (photo of adults), southern pine beetle (selected references), European corn borer (four new natural enemies), lady beetles (photo of larvae), and white grubs (photo of beneficial fungus).

To save space, these publications are not listed exactly as they should be cited. The complete correct citation is: Author(s). (date of publication). Full title. UF/IFAS Featured Creatures. EENY- ##. URL.

Some Featured Featured Creatures

Bette Hines, a teacher at Silver Trail Middle School, in Florida, reports that Featured Creatures was posted to the "garden with butterflies" bulletin board because of the number of butterflies that Don Hall, Jerry Butler and others have added to Featured Creatures.

Heike Meissner, USDA-APHIS-PPQ, Raleigh, NC, says, "(Featured Creatures is) a very good website, and it saved me a lot of work."

DISCONTINUED SERVICE

Dr. Malcolm T. Sanford first came to beekeeping through a course at the University of Georgia in 1973. This led to his Masters Degree Thesis: A Geography of Apiculture in Yucatan, Mexico. Shortly thereafter he was accepted by Dr. Alfred Dietz as a graduate student and managed the University of Georgia bee yard. After graduating, he became a research associate at the University of Georgia and wrote and appeared in Bees and Honey, a Georgia Public Television Program aired for several years on PBS. As part of his training, he also worked for a time at Rossman Apiaries in Moultrie, Georgia. He is a life member of both the Florida and Georgia Beekeepers Associations and a twenty-six year member of the American Beekeeping Federation.

Dr. Sanford was hired as extension apiculturist in 1978 at the Ohio State University. Three years later, he accepted a job as Associate Professor at the University of Florida. His career has consisted of a twenty-plus year love affair writing about honey bees and beekeeping. He has been published in a variety of journals, including The Speedy Bee, American Bee Journal, Bee Culture, Bee Science and Bee Biz. During the period, he published a monthly beekeeping newsletter both at The Ohio State University (Beekeeping Notes) and the University of Florida (APIS).

Dr. Sanford is a pioneer of the Information Age. His writings first appeared on the fledgling Internet (then called BITNET) in the early 1980s. His APIS newsletter was one of the first Internet World Wide Web sites that featured information for beekeepers. He writes the monthly column for Bee Culture magazine "Beekeeping in the Digital Age," which describes the changes this medium is bringing to how information is developed and used by the apicultural community. Because of his electronic information presence, Dr. Sanford's reputation has spread worldwide as a quality source of beekeeping information. He has also attended and published descriptions of international beekeeping events, including several Apimondia conferences (Mexico, Brazil, Hungary, Canada). He has also spent three six-month sabbaticals abroad Italy, (1989), France (1997) and Ecuador (2000).

Dr. Sanford has observed and published about many of the changes that have revolutionized beekeeping over the last two decades. He coauthored with Dr. Roger Hoopingarner, the first ever chapter on Business Practices in Beekeeping in the 1992 Edition of The Hive and The Honey Bee (Dadant & Sons, Inc.) and most recently the Chapter on Introduction of Varroa in North America in Mites of the Honey Bee (Dadant & Sons, Inc., 2001). He has also been actively involved in deliberations concerning how the beekeeping industry and regulators approached introductions of the tracheal mite (1984), Varroa mite (1987), Africanized honey bee (1990) and African small hive beetle (1999).

After twenty years of service to the beekeeping industry, Dr. Sanford has chosen to discontinue his service as part of the University of Florida's Cooperative Extension Service. He hopes to remain a vital part of the apicultural industry and that his legacy will "virtually" continue through World Wide Web technology. Throughout his career, Dr. Sanford has won several awards, including the Achievement Award for Extension (Florida Entomological Society, 1992), Service Award (Apiary Inspectors of America, 1997) and Award of Excellence in Extension (American Association of Professional Apiculturists, 1998).

Although an academic by background and training, Dr. Sanford is most proud of his contributions to the beekeepers of the world, who have supported him in numerous ways throughout his career. This is perhaps no better exemplified than by the following:

Subject: 1st PRIZE Beekeeper Page From: andy.nachbaur@beenet.com (Andy Nachbaur)
Date: 1997/08/12
Message-Id: 9708122109592408@beenet.com
Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping
Oh my gosh with so many very good Beekeepers sites on the Internet how can anyone judge them all and come back with a winner without hurting everyone's feeling. Well I have not judged them as it is really an impossible job, but for content I have a WINNER for you all to check out. Surprise, no fancy graphics, but a diary or series of letters from Dr. TOM SANFORD, from the University of Florida, Beekeeping Extension, father of the Internet for beekeepers and a teacher, Doctor of Beekeeping Extension via the Internet for sure. Why you ask do I suggest its worth the time to read these 19 letters, because it is a fast way, (maybe an hour for a careful reader) to get a look into what others, beekeepers, educators, bee regulators, and bee scientist's are doing and thinking TODAY in the Mediterranean region. After a few minutes of reading you will be able to relate to what is or has gone on in the US and how other's are dealing with it. All this is from Dr. Sanford's perspective which I believe to be an open minded one, and slanted maybe toward what Florida's beekeepers or southern states beekeepers could be interested in. Read it because you will find reading them a totally enjoyable experience today that may not repeat itself for many years to come in quality or content, but I believe will be read in the future as classic history for beekeepers interested in beekeepers.

Missing Authors?

With all the recent changes in UF/IFAS URLs, many of the links to UF-affiliated author sites on the Featured Creatures WWW site no longer worked. In addition, Division of Plant Industry and some student organization URL changes also resulted in broken links. So we spent a lot of time correcting these, but probably didn't get them all. If you are an author of a Featured Creature file, and the link at the bottom of the file does not link to your site, please let Tom Fasulo know the file URL and your Web URL, and it will be corrected.

Best of the Bugs

If you ever wanted to have your own scanning electron microscope then you need to check out the newest addition to the UF Best of the Bugs Award page. See the Dennis Kunkel Microscopy web site.

The USGS North Prairie Wildlife Research Center's "Butterflies of North America" Web site is the latest to be awarded our Best of the Bugs award.

SCHOOL IPM

Kagan Owens wrote: "U.S. Senate passes the School Environment Protection Act of 2001 (SEPA) (amendment no. 805) under unanimous consent this morning as an amendment to S.1, Better Education for Students and Teachers Act, (which amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)). Please find Beyond Pesticides/NCAMP's press release below. Letters of support are needed as S.1 moves through the Senate/House Joint Conference Committee. Write your Congress members supporting amendment #805 (SEPA) as adopted by the Senate without weakening amendments. Sample letter and more information will follow in separate email. Let me know if you want to add your organization or business to the list of supporters.

EXPANDING THE BROOD

Linnea Grace joined the McAuslane/Alborn family on June 16th, weighing in at 7 lb 8.5 oz and measuring 20.5 inches. Heather and Hans are enjoying the pleasures and relative ease of caring for a single, healthy newborn, while 3-year-old twin big brothers, Daniel and Matthew, are less excited!

Graduate Student News

Mike Patnaude has been unofficially given the job of director of the arthropod surveillance and control program in Westchester County, NY (sandwiched between NYC and Conn. on the northeast coast)

Juan Manuel Alvarez is still unpacking in his new office at the University of Idaho. He and his wife are expecting.

Congratulations to Tom Merritt who was married in Scotland on July 30.

OUTREACH

The Insect Petting Zoo was a success at the Museum of Natural History's "Fun With Science" day. Over 1900 children and parents were in attendance.

Thank you goes out to everyone who continually helps with the school tours of the department. These would not be possible without your assistance. Current tour stops include: Ant Lab, Grasshopper Lab, Bio-Control Lab, Nematology Lab, Cockroach Lab, Termite Cam, and Insect ID Lab.

4-H Congress was a blast this year. Six 4-H members received prizes for competing in the Insect Collection Competition. 20 4-H members attended a three hour workshop in the department where they made insect collecting equipment, learned about insect morphology and participated in an insect mouthparts relay and a Bug Bowl.

Funnies

A "political correctness gone mad" bonehead award goes both to the Japanese Entomological Society and the Japanese Ichthyological Society which have decided to begin renaming some creatures so people's feelings will not be hurt. Mekura kamemushi (blind bugs) will now be called Kasumi kamuemushi (misty bugs) and Mekura unagi (blind eels) are to be renamed as well. Gone will be Kobito (dwarf) penguins. Instead they will become fairy penguins. In fact, 37 museums in Japan have actually removed displays because they thought the names of the creature might offend someone. Mainichi Shimbun (Japan)27-Jun-01 a.k.a.: "Bone Head of the Day Awards" page.

CAMPUS NEWS

The Environmental Health and Safety welcomes all the labs in UF campus to share a new and innovative program called the ChemSwap. As the name suggests, it is a program focused on promoting resource sharing between various labs and in the process, reducing the amount of hazardous wastes. The various labs can register for the program under the PI's and multiple users can register under a PI. Once registered, the member labs have a password protected elaborate inventory database, and access to the ChemSwap service. The program is based on the fact that there are a lot of chemicals available in various labs that are not needed, but can be useful for other labs. The various members of the program put these chemicals on the exchange list, which can be accessed by all the members of the program, and hence, the various labs can make a request for the particular chemical online. Once a chemical is requested, EH&S contacts the two labs and arranges for a pickup and delivery, free of charge. The website also features a list of requested chemicals, where any of the members can post a request for a chemical. Once a request has been made, EH&S can deliver the requested chemical from the donor lab. Apart from the obvious benefits like minimization of wastes and financial gains, the program can also help in promoting resource sharing. Similar programs have been implemented in various other universities and have proved to be quite useful. EH&S hopes that more and more labs will use this tool and register.

NEEDED

Dr. Dennis Kunkel, whose Microscopy web site won our Best of the Bugs Award is interested in obtaining some medical or economically important pests to do SEMs on. He says, "If you or other colleagues might have specimens that are interesting (such as agricultural pests or other medical or economically important specimens) I would be interested in obtaining some preserved samples. I would be glad to take some images to share with the person who provides the sample as well. Some kids have asked me about looking at some deer ticks as well as the kissing bug (Triatoma I believe)." Here are some of the critters he is interested in: Ticks - Ixodes sp., Haemaphysalis sp.; Mites - Leptotrombidium sp., Liponysoides sp., Sarcoptes sp., other skin or follicle mites; Flies - Chrysops sp., Culicoides sp., Phlebotomus sp.; Mosquitoes - Anopheles sp., salt marsh mosquito, others besides Aedes and Culex that I have already photographed; Bugs - Triatoma sp., Panstrongylus sp. You can contact him through the Best of the Bugs web site listed above.

AROUND TOWN

Bugs may be cool, but bots are hot! If you see a squirrel with large lumps on its body, don't panic-- these probably are not cancerous lesions resulting from toxic wastes buried in your backyard nor a highly infectious disease that will ravage children and pets. Rather, it's that time of year for squirrel bot flies, and these lumps (warbles) are the work of the larvae (bots) of the tree squirrel bot fly, Cuterebra emasculator. This site is still being developed so several of the links are not yet available, but click on the 'Overview' link to get answers to frequently asked questions about this fly/squirrel encounter, and visit the 'Warbles' link to get up close and personal with these lumpy squirrels.

Something missing from your newsletter?

If there is something you would like to see in future editions of the newsletter, pleas send all thoughts, suggestions and supportive criticisms to: Rebecca Baldwin.

A hard copy of this newsletter is given to department members in building 970 only. All others can obtain an electronic subscription by sending a request to listserv@lists.ufl.edu and in the text of the message type:

Turn off any signature file, if you have one. You will receive instructions for confirming your subscription and further information on the rules for the list server.

This version of the newsletter is prepared for the Web by Andy Koehler.

August 2001. Updated May 2003.