NEWSLETTER
07/30/98 Entomology and Nematology News - Vol. 3, No. 10
A University of Florida Publication

"And the dragonfly in light Burnished armor shining bright, Came tilting down the river In a wild bewildered flight" - James Witcomb Riley

GRADUATES GOING PLACES

Jennifer Anderson was awarded first place in the 1998 Best Student Paper Competition at the national meeting of the Society of Nematologists in St. Louis, MO. The title of her paper was "Phylogenetic Analysis of Pasteuria penetrans using 16S rRNA Gene Cloning and Sequencing". Jennifer Anderson was selected for a $21,000 Emerging Infectious Disease Training Fellowship from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Association of State and Territorial Public Health Laboratories. She will be moving to Atlanta, GA in September to begin research on Chagas disease under Dr. Ben Beard.

EXPANDING THE BROOD

Michael Patnaude was blessed with a beautiful son on Thursday July 16th named George Singleton Patnaude. Dr. McAuslane called to let us know that she is doing well and that the babies are too. July 1st the babies were moved to North Florida Regional Medical Hospital, NICU 1. Both babies are doing well on the bottle. Matthew will probably get to come home this weekend. They don't know yet when Daniel will get to come home.

FEATURED CREATURES

Weems, Jr., H.V. and P.E. Skelley. (June 1998). European earwig, Forficula auricularia Linnaeus. UF/IFAS Featured Creatures EENY-32. http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/veg/european_earwig.htm

Hamon, A.B. and T.R. Fasulo. (June 1998). Cottony cushion scale, Icerya purchasi Maskell. UF/IFAS Featured Creatures EENY-34. http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/fruit/cottony_cushion_scale.htm

Pena, J.E., and F.W. Mead. (June 1998). Citrus gall midge, Prodiplosis longifila Gagne. UF/IFAS Featured Creatures EENY-35. http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/fruit/citrus_gall_midge.htm

Denmark, H.A., and J.F. Price (June 1998). Gladiolus thrips, Thrips simplex (Morison). UF/IFAS Featured Creatures EENY-36. http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/orn/thrips/gladiolus_thrips.htm

Denmark, H.A., H.L. Cromroy, and L. Cutts. (June 1998). Varroa mite, Varroa jacobsoni Oudemans. UF/IFAS Featured Creatures EENY-37. http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/bees/varroa_mite.htm

TUTORIALS

The Department announces the release of a new series of computer-verified training tutorials on arthropod pests and beneficials of turfgrass, household, ornamentals, and wood. Other tutorials on pesticides will also be released. Each tutorial takes about 6 MB of hard disk space and requires Windows.

The first five tutorials currently available are:

  • Turfgrass Insects 1
  • Ornamental Insects 1
  • Pest Ants
  • Cockroaches
  • Eastern Subterranean Termites

    • Another 10 are in various stages of development and many more are planned. Each tutorial is authorized by Florida for one (1) CEU for recertification. Details on these tutorials are posted on the UF Buggy Software WWW site at: http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/fasulo/pests/software/

    Copies of each tutorial are being sent to county offices.

    PEST ALERT

    Unfortunately, Pest Alert is becoming popular. We have the Medfly infestations to thank for that, although several other pests such as the hive beetle and the Asiatic citrus psyllid have helped. Recent months have seen 1300+ hits a month to the WWW site. As a result, a number of non-IFAS personnel have requested that they be added to our IFAS-mailing lists to receive notice of additions to Pest Alert.

    Therefore, Tom Fasulo created a Pest Alert Listserv that allows anyone to subscribe and unsubcribe on their own, without going through him. The complete and easy instructions for doing so are now available on the Pest Alert WWW site.

    LIVE ANIMALS

    After the Williston fireworks on July 3, a scared grey female kitten (with cute little dark grey stripes on her tail) showed up on our doorstep and decided to stay. The problem is that we already have four adult cats and we can't really afford a new kitty. This lost little girl, who is about 6 months old or so, is very sweet and loving, and also very playful. If you would like to have a new friend or know someone looking for a new friend, please let me know. If we can't find her a home, we may be forced to send her to the animal shelter.

    Craig Welsh is trying to start a breeding project with Dynastes tityus, a large scarab beetle. He would greatly appreciate any live specimens.

    A FOND FAREWELL

    Millicent Cobblah's nine month Fulbright Fellowship under the international exchange programs has come to an end and will be leaving for home (Ghana, West Africa) soon. She worked under Dr. Gupta and would like to thank everyone in the Entomology and Nematology Department for the help and assistance she received in diverse ways. "I benefited immensely from the expertise and facilities of the University and will always have memories of this place." - M. Cobblah.

    The next newsletter will be published Thursday, August 20th. Deadline for contributions is Monday August 17th.

    Hardcopy editor: Michael Patnaude

    This version of the newsletter is published for the Web by Tim McCoy.

    July 1998. Updated March 2003.