NEWSLETTER
April-May-June 2001 Entomology and Nematology News
Entomology and Nematology Student Organization
A University of Florida Publication
AWARDS
Mirian Hay-Roe and Alison Neeley have each been awarded a $500 John A. Mulrennan, Sr. Scholarship. Mirian's is for an Outstanding Ph. D. graduate student, and Alison's is for an Outstanding M. S. graduate student.
GRANTS
Dr. James P. Cuda was awarded a grant for $2000 from the Extension Enhancement Grant Program for developing an IPM / Biological Control Implementation web site.
Dr. Julio Medal was awarded a grant for $12,600 (1 year) from the USDA-National Biological Control Institute (NBCI) to conduct host-specificity tests and biological studies with the flower-bud-weevil, Anthonomus tenebrosus, a potential biocontrol candidate for tropical soda apple. Medal also received a grant for $3,400 (1 year) from the USDA-NBCI for the organization of the 'First Latin-American Short-Course on Biological Control of Weeds' to be held in June 2002 in Nicaragua.
MEETINGS
Dr. Eugene J. Gerberg attended the American Mosquito Control Association meeting in Dallas, Texas. Dr. Gerberg is chair of the International Committee.
Dr. Eugene J. Gerberg was an invited speaker at the Department of Defense Pest Management Workshop at the Naval Air Station, Jacksonville. Dr. Gerberg spoke on "Biting fly repellents, past, present and future.
Dr. Marjorie A. Hoy will attend the AIBS meeting in Washington, DC from March 22-27 and will also attend the Governing Board meeting of the AIBS. The theme of the meeting is "From Biodiversity to Biocomplexity".
Dr. James P. Cuda participated in an Aquatic Plant Management Workshop for extension agents and aquatic plant managers at the Pinellas County Extension Office on 6 March. Dr. Cuda gave an oral presentation on "Biological Control of Aquatic Weeds".
Dr. James P. Cuda attended the 2001 IFAS Aquatic and Upland Invasive Plant Research and Extension Review held in Palm Coast, Florida, 7 March. Dr. Cuda served as Moderator for the Biological Control Session, and gave an oral presentation on "Assessing Environmental Risks of Releasing Defoliating Sawflies (Hymenoptera: Pergidae) for Classical Weed Biological Control." The presentation was co-authored by Drs. Nancy Szabo and Gary Buckingham.
Dr. James P. Cuda attended the 65th Annual Meeting of the Florida Academy of Sciences held in Saint Leo, Florida, 9 March. He was an invited speaker for a symposium on "Chemical, Biological and Other Factors Affecting Florida's Springs: The Significance of Springs to Society." His presentation focused on the biology and impact of the midge Cricotopus lebetis, a natural enemy of hydrilla at Crystal River.
Dr. James P. Cuda presented a poster entitled "Classical Biological Control of Brazilian Peppertree (Schinus terebinthifolius) in Florida," at the 2001 Southeast Exotic Pest Plant Council National Conference held in Athens, Georgia, 21-23 March. The poster was co-authored by Drs. Dale Habeck and Julio Medal.
Drs. James P. Cuda and Norman C. Leppla attended the annual Regional Project Meeting on "Biological Control of Arthropod Pests and Weeds" held in Augusta, Georgia, 4 March. This new 5 year multistate S-303 project was approved by the USDA/CSREES and replaces the previous S-267 regional biological control project.
Dr. Julio Medal was an invited speaker at the Brazilian University of Blumenau in Santa Catarina state on April 17th. Medal gave a 2-hr presentation in Portuguese on Biological Control of Weeds: Current status and future trends. Participants were approximately 150 students and professors of the Biological Sciences and Forestry Departments.
Dr. Julio Medal was an invited lecturer at the Brazilian University do Centro-Oeste in Irati, Parana state on April 24th. Medal gave two talks titled: Biological Control of Weeds: Past, present, and future trends.
PRESENTATIONS
At the recent In-Service training - Entomology Update - Phil Koehler showed two new PowerPoint presentations on: Ant Food Preferences - The Key to Solving Difficult Problems (10.4 MB) and Understanding Insecticides or 101 Ways to Kill a Cockroach (950 KB)
Jim Cuda showed a presentation titled Biological Control 101 (460 KB)
The attending county faculty requested that these presentations be available to them for in-county use. You can download the two presentations from the Presentations and Tutorials site at http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/fasulo/presentations/ There are now 21 such presentations available on this site.
NOTE: The above site is only for UF/IFAS Faculty. However, Jim Cuda's Biological Control presentation can also be downloaded from the Florida IPM and Biological Control WWW site at http://ipm.ifas.ufl.edu/
PUBLICATIONS
Cuda, J.P and T.D. Center. 2001. Biology and impact of a stem tip mining midge (Diptera: Chironomidae) on the aquatic weed hydrilla (Hydrocharitaceae) at Crystal River, Florida. Florida Scientist 64(1): 54-55.
Long, S.F. and J.P. Cuda. 2001. Recent additions to the mayflies (Insecta: Ephemeroptera) of Tennessee and discussion of endemic species of the Central Basin. Florida Scientist 64(1): 23-24.
Martin, C.G. and J.P. Cuda. 2001. Episimus utilis for biological control of Brazilian peppertree. Florida Scientist 64(1): 1.
EXPANDING THE BROOD
Mike and Kim Patnaude became the proud parents of Graham Singleton Patnaude on March 1, 2001 at 4:48 am. He weighed 7lbs. 5 oz. His birthday is one week after Mike's and one week before Kim's.
MOVING DAYS
UF/IFAS IT is moving a number of WWW sites to a new server. As a result, numerous Entomology and Nematology WWW sites have changed their URLs [Web addresses]. Here are some of the sites that were moved, along with their new URLs.
Buggy Software - http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/fasulo/pests/software/
School IPM - http://schoolipm.ifas.ufl.edu/
WoodyPest - http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/fasulo/woodypest/
Bests of the Bugs - http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/fasulo/pests/bestbugs/
Public Health Pest Control Manual - http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/fasulo/vector/
Department Newsletter - http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/news/
Whitefly Knowledgebase - http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/fasulo/whiteflies/
Mole Cricket Knowledgebase - http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/fasulo/molecrickets/
Presentations and Tutorials - http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/fasulo/presentations/
Featured Creatures - http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/
In addition, a complete listing of all sites with links to the new locations is available at http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/fasulo/pests/
WEST VIRGINIA CEUs
The West Virginia Department of Agriculture has approved 21 computer-verified training tutorials for CEUs in that state. The tutorials, developed by this department, are approved for pesticide license re-certification in at least ten different categories. West Virginia joins Georgia and Florida in offering these training tutorials for training and re-certification.
The tutorials were developed by faculty members Thomas Fasulo, Philip Koehler and Donald Short, and students Everett Yang, Thomas Powell, Henife Genc and Deanna Branscome. Details are available on the Buggy Software WWW site available at http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/fasulo/pests/software/
SMITHSONIAN INSECT SAFARI
The Smithsonian Institute is sending a 55-foot tractor-trailer around the country for a year to teach elementary school students about insects. At a recent stop in Orlando, Thomas Fasulo was the "visiting entomologist" for the day, where he displayed departmental publications and live insects to the students and their teachers.
TALSTAR TUTORIALS
Thomas Fasulo and Shawn Brooks recently completed a grant to develop a computer-verified training tutorial for FMC. The software is being used by FMC to train pest control operators nationwide in the use of its Talstar Termiticide. PCOs have to obtain a 90% score to obtain a FMC guarantee on the application of the termiticide. The tutorial is available for free downloading from the FMC WWW site.
IPM AND BIOLOGICAL CONTROL
A group of 33 Florida scientists have joined to develop a new WWW site on IPM and Biological Control in Florida. The team is co-chaired by James Cuda, UF entomologist for biological control of weeds, Norm Leppla, UF IPM Coordinator, and Gary Brinen, UF commercial horticulturist with the Alachua County Cooperative Extension Service. Thomas Fasulo is the Webmaster.
The site is a little lean right now, but we need to open it to allow those who are interested to join the Florida IPM and Biological Control Listserv that is associated with the site. The listserv also allow independent discussion of IPM and Biological Control by subscribers. Sign up at http://ipm.ifas.ufl.edu/
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: http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/
Thomas, M.C. and R.E. Woodruff. A stored product pest, Oryzaephilus acuminatus Halstead.
Collins, L., and R.H. Scheffrahn. Red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren.
Deisler, J.E. and L.A. Stange. White garden snail, Theba pisana (Mueller).
Halbert, S.E., and J.R. Meeker. Sycamore lace bug, Corythucha ciliata (Say).
Larson, B., J.H. Frank and O.R. Creel. Florida bromeliad weevil, Metamasius mosieri Barber.
Mead, F.W., and S.E. Webb. Grapeleaf skeletonizer, Harrisina americana (Guérin-Méneville).
Mead, F.W., and S.E. Webb. Grape leaffolder, Desmia funeralis (Huebner).
Mead, F.W., and J.L. Herring. A cactus bug, Chelinidea vittiger aequoris McAtee.
Mizell, Jr., R.F. Multicolored Asian lady beetle, Harmonia axyridis (Pallas).
Thompson, C.R. An endoparasitic braconid wasp, Diachasmimorpha longicaudata (Ashmead).
Weems, H.V., J.B. Heppner and T. R. Fasulo. West Indian fruit fly, Anastrepha obliqua (Macquart).
Weems, H.V., J.B. Heppner and T.R. Fasulo. Melon fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae Coquillett.
Weems, H.V., and T.R. Fasulo. Guava fruit fly, Bactrocera correcta (Bezzi).
Weems, H.V., J.B. Heppner and T.R. Fasulo. Caribbean fruit fly, Anastrepha suspensa (Loew).
Weems, H.V., J.B. Heppner and T.R. Fasulo. Mexican fruit fly, Anastrepha ludens (Loew).
Weems, H.V. A fruit fly, Anastrepha ocresia (Walker).
Weems, H.V. Eastern cherry fruit fly, Rhagoletis cingulata (Loew).
Weems, H.V. South American cucurbit fruit fly, Anastrepha grandis (Macquart).
Weems, H.V. Sapote fruit fly, Anastrepha serpentina (Macquart).
Woodruff, R.E. Hunting billbug, Sphenophorus venatus vestitus Chittenden.
New text and/or photographs were added to the files on yellowjackets, guava fruit fly, Jadera bugs and the papaya fruit fly.
To save space, these publications are not listed exactly as they should be cited. The complete citation is: Author(s). (date of publication). Full title. UF/IFAS Featured Creatures. EENY- ##. URL
SOME FEATURED FEATURED CREATURES
The National Center for Biotechnology Information [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/] is now incorporating the Featured Creatures database within its WWW site on molecular biology information. NCBI creates public databases, conducts research in computational biology, develops software tools for analyzing genome data, and disseminates biomedical information - all for the better understanding of molecular processes affecting human health and disease. A number of the species in Featured Creatures are used in that process and the Center decided to incorporate links to all Featured Creatures throughout its database through its Taxonomy Browser: [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=Taxonomy].
"We are a multiage 1-2 (1st and 2nd grade) class in Dover, Delaware. We have been studying insects for the last quarter. At recess today a few students found what we think is a tomato hornworm. We loved the pictures and information on your website." - Mrs. Hermance, Mrs. Walton and Mr. Smith and 34 students
"I enjoyed reading the new Featured Creatures file on the compact carpenter ant. I really appreciate the homeowner (and program assistant) friendly, detailed information at this site. We use the site daily and give out the web address all the time. Thank you." JoAnn Hoffman Urban Horticulture Program Assistant, Hillsborough County Cooperative Extension Service
BEST OF THE BUGS
We recently informed owners of the sites listed on our Best of the Bugs WWW site about the new location for the site. The following is a response we received from Forrest Mitchell, associate professor at Texas A&M, whose Texas Dragonfly Museum site is one listed on Best of the Bugs:
"Thanks - This has been an important award for us and we proudly mention it, even when we're not asked. It figures prominently in our write-ups and in our reports to our administrators and is our evidence of excellence."
This is Erin Britton's last issue as editor. A big round of applause for Erin who served as editor for over a year. She is replaced by Ph.D. student, Rebecca Baldwin.
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.
June 2001. Updated May 2003.