03/05/99 Entomology and Nematology News

Of all the many forms of life which exist upon the surface of this old earth of ours, and which this old earth of ours, and which are our daily companions for good or ill during our few years' stay thereon, none are more numerous or less known than insects. Not only are they abundant as individuals, but the number of species is many fold greater than that of all other animals taken together. Both on the land and water they occur by millions, yet the life history of even the house-fly is known to but a few. -W. S. Blatchley

The Graduate Student Forum will be held on April 2. Deadline for abstract submission is March 5.

NEW POSITION (#929190)

Assistant Professor of Entomology and Nematology (soil invertebrate biologist)

Full-time (12 month), tenure track position with 70% teaching (College of Agriculture) and 30% research (Florida Agricultural Experiment Station). This assignment may change in accordance with the needs of the unit. Duties will include: (1) develop and teach a field-oriented course emphasizing invertebrates; (2) teach graduate courses in nematode morphology and nematode taxonomy; (3) teach a graduate course in information techniques in research; and (4) develop a research program complementary to existing programs in the department. For additional information about the department, see homepage at http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/

MEETINGS

Dr. James P. Cuda attended the 39th Annual Meeting of the Weed Science Society of America held in San Diego, California, 7-11 February. He was appointed as a member of the Biological Control of Weeds Committee for a 5-year term ending in 2003.

Marjorie Hoy attended the Eastern Branch of the Entomological Society of America's meeting in Virginia Beach and presented an invited talk, "Biological Control at the Crossroads?" for the President's Symposium.

She learned about a new potential pest that could threaten Florida's citrus--the Asian long horned beetles that are coming into the USA in wooden packing materials from China consist of several species. Two species have been intercepted that attack citrus and could thus harm Florida's citrus if they become established. There was an all day symposium on this group of beetles at the Eastern Branch; they are creating serious problems in Chicago and New York. Eradication efforts are underway, but it is not clear that eradication efforts will be successful.

Dr. James P. Cuda was appointed an Associate Editor of the Journal of Aquatic Plant Management. He will will be serving a three year term ending in July 2002.

Cuda, J.P. and Zeller, M.C. 1998. First record of Ochyromera ligustri (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) from Chinese privet in Florida. Florida Entomologist 81(4): 582-584.

Cuda, J.P. and DeLoach, C.J. 1998. Biology of Mozena obtusa (Hemiptera: Coreidae), a candidate for the biological control of mesquite, Prosopis spp. (Fabaceae). Biological Control 13(2):101-110.

Dr. Francisco Ferrer from Barquisimeto, Venezuela will visit Gainesville this month. He is interested to learn what insects are being reared, and how is the rearing done. He also is interested to buying back issues of entomological journals, both "basic" and "applied." If anyone has back issues (from about 1982 onward) please consider whether you want to sell them to Dr Ferrer. Speak with Dr. Jorge Salas (sabatical visitor in room 3106) for additional information.

President Lombardi has approved making the name of the road leading from Hull Road to NATL and the Entomology/Nematology building "Natural Area Drive." (It is currently labeled as "Surge Area Drive.") The new road sign may be installed as an event during the Wetland Club's April 17 dedication of NATL's Stormwater Ecological Enhancement Project (SEEP). [See the north side of NATL's kiosk if you don't know what SEEP is.]

A dean (Agriculture) and two vice-presidents (Agricultural and Natural Resources and Office of Research, Technology and Graduate Education) have pledged $22,000 to remove the spoil pile from NATL's successional plot C and build a six-foot high earthen berm along 34th Street. The successional plot is scheduled to be tilled next year and again in 2040. The berm will protect persons in the restored longleaf pine south of DPI from the sights and sounds of six lanes of continuously heavy traffic. Four contractors have toured the project. When their bids are received, we'll know if $22K is enough.

Drs. John Galbraith and Mary Collins (Soil & Water Science) have proposed a "Soil Resources Inventory Plan" for NATL. In addition to an intense soil survey, the plan proposes preparation of soil monoliths for display and education, permanent soil pits to be used as teaching tools, and a geographic information system (GIS) for storing data about the area.

Alicia Reiner, a student in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, is helping complete a collection of aerial photographs of NATL that document vegetational and other changes from 1937 to date. She and Dr. Kaoru Kitajima (Botany) are also studying the means of eliminating Ardisia and climbing tree fern, two invasive exotics, from NATL's hammock ecosystem.

Conditions were almost suitable for burning the longleaf pine areas of NATL on February 15, but NATL's burn master, Dr. Alan Long (Forest Resources & Conservation), concluded that the brush was too dry. What is needed is a rain of 0.5 inch followed by a severe clear.

Featured Creatures

http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/

Mead, F.W. Leaffooted bug, Leptoglossus phyllopus (Linnaeus).
Poe, S.L. Tomato pinworm, Keiferia lycopersicella, (Walshingham).
Weems, H.V., and G.W. Dekle. Blotch leafminer, Amauromyza maculosa (Malloch).
Denmark, H.A., Greenhouse thrips, Heliothrips haemorrhoidalis (Bouche).
Branscome, D. White peach scale, Pseudaulacaspis pentagona (Targioni).

Creature Citations

To save space in the newsletter, the citations for Featured Creatures are not listed exactly as they should be referenced in a list of authors' publications. The correct, complete citation is: Author(s). (date). Title. UF/IFAS Featured Creatures. EENY- ##. specific URL

Fire Ants

A FREE downloadable presentation on controlling fire ants is now available
at the School IPM WWW site at:

http://schoolipm.ifas.ufl.edu/

Our Electronic Presence

On the last Friday in February the UF network went down completely for several hours and we couldn't even access local WWW servers within our own department. It affected more than just those of us who work in Gainesville. Tom Fasulo received a call from an instructor at North Carolina State who's students were not able to access the nematode tutorial that is part of the Mole Cricket WWW site. This instructor uses this tutorial in his turfgrass course every semester. The tutorial was developed by Grover Smart, Khuong Nguyen and Tom Fasulo.

Our WWW sites are used and recognized at other universities. Wayne Clark at Auburn sent a message that same Friday that he uses our Featured Creatures WWW site in his entomology courses. That same week the University of Minnesota not only placed a link to the Featured Creatures WWW site on its "Fabulous Web Sites" page, but used the entire Featured Creatures page-wide graphic to call attention to it.

Our Florida Pest Alert WWW site has a list server that Fasulo uses to notify subscribers when new information is added to the site. Subscribers include not only UF and state government personnel, but members of various industries we serve, scientists from the USDA, other states and from countries in Latin American, East Asia and Southeast Asia, including Australia and New Zealand. Electronic subscribers to our department's electronic newsletter include scientists from as far away as Australia and South Africa. Many of these people are not alumni but professionals interested in what our department is doing.

Our School IPM WWW site has been chosen by the EPA to be the national WWW site for this area of concern. Subscribers on the list server for this site include all the major national players in School IPM. The USDA has funded Tom Fasulo and David Dame, an adjunct professor, to develop a national public health pest control manual to be placed on the WWW as well as distributed in print.

The department has a great deal more information on the WWW, than mentioned above, that is also widely used. Credit for our significant electronic presence is shared by all who contribute to our WWW sites.

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Editor: Michael Patnaude

This version of the newsletter is prepared for the Web by Kathryn Jones.

February 1999. Updated May 2003.