NEWSLETTER

Congratulations Heather McAuslane and Hans Alborn on the births of Daniel Thomas and Matthew Eric on June 19, 1998. Dr. McAuslane was able to leave the hospital the following Monday but the boys will probably be staying until mid-July.

Congratulations to Jessica and Stacey Barber on the birth of Madelyn Clare on May 19, 1998. Stacey is a biological scientist working in the Nematology program of Jim Rich at the NFREC, Quincy.

Claudia Riegel has been awarded a $1,000 fellowship from Sarah Bradley Tyson Memorial Fellowship established in 1928 by Woman's National Farm and Garden Association, Inc.

Carla Cuda, daughter of Jim and Lynne Cuda, has been selected for Who's Who of American High School Students for this academic year. Carla just completed here junior year in the International Baccalaureate Program at Eastside High School. This is the second consecutive year that Carla has been recognized by Who's Who.

WELCOME

Kemi Mosademi, a high school student from New Orleans, Louisiana, will be spending the summer in the laboratory of Dr. James P. Cuda. Ogine Lo, a senior from Port Orange, Florida will be working with Thomas Powell in the Urban Entomology lab investigating the tunneling capability of Reticulitermes flavipes in differentially compacted soils.

Kemi and Ogine are participants in the University of Florida Student Science Training Program (UF-SSTP) which was initiated in 1959 and has over 3000 alumni. The UF-SSTP is a seven-week residential research program designed to provide academically talented high school students with the opportunity to gain research experience in a university environment.

IN OUR THOUGHTS

One of our Entomology undergraduate students, Caridad Lopez, was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Unfortunately, her doctors felt a radical mastectomy followed up with both chemo- and radiation therapy was necessary.Caridad has already had her surgery and is about to begin therapy. Caridad has had to leave her two OPS jobs during her recovery and could use the help of her friends in the department. If you would like to contribute, contact Nancy Sanders at 352-392-1901 or: PO Box 110620 Bldg 970 Surge Area Dr. Gainesville, FL 32611-110620

PUBLICATIONS

C. Tipping, K. B. Nguyen, J. E. Funderburk, and G. C. Smart, Jr. 1998. Thripenema fuscum n. sp. (Tylenchida: Allantonematidae), a parasite of tobacco thrips, Frankliniella fusca (Thysanoptera). Journal of Nematology. 30(2): 98-103.

N.E. Engelbrecht, R.P. Yeatts and F. Slansky. 1998. Palpebral myiasis causing preseptal cellulitis. Archives of Ophthalmology 116: 684. [For the non-medically oriented, this can be loosely translated as "I think I got a fly (larva) in my eye-- ouch!"].

Z. X. Chen, and D. W. Dickson. 1997. Effect of Ammonium Nitrate and Time of Harvest on Mass Production of Pasteuria penetrans. Nematropica 27:53-60. (printed in 1998).

New Nematode Publication
Plant and Nematode Interactions. ASA Monograph 36. Edited by Kenneth R. Barker, Gary A. Pederson, and Gary L. Windham. This 772 page monograph explores the general basis of nematode systematics, and ecology, and provides specific information on the most important crop-nematode interactions. It is the most comprehensive treatise available on these complex nematode-plant relationships. This text is available through the American Society of Agronomy at a price of $55.00.

Online Publications
Marjorie Hoy, UF Entomology and Nematology Department, and Ru Nguyen, Division of Plant Industry, FDACS have just posted a file entitled "Citrus Psylla: HERE in Florida - An Action Plan" to Pest Alert.

The file includes five color photographs of the pest and its parasites, and is linked into other UF and DPI WWW publications. In addition to Dade and Broward counties, this pest is also in the Indian River citrus growing area. Pest Alert is available on the WWW at: http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/pestalert/

It's not here in the U.S. yet, but it's probably coming. The pink hibicus mealybug is a severe pest of many ornamental and vegetable plants in tropical and subtropical areas. A new Featured Creature on this pest, complete with current distribution, description and life cycle, damage, biological control, what to do if and when you find one, and selected references, accompanied by ten full color photographs has been posted on the Featured Creatures WWW site.

Hoy, M.A., A. Hamon and R. Nguyen. (May 1998). Pink hibiscus mealybug, Maconellicoccus hirsutus (Green). UF/IFAS Featured Creatures. EENY-29. http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/orn/mealybug/mealybug.htm

Other recent additions to the Featured Creatures WWW site are:

Butler, J.F., J.A. Hogsette. (June 1998). Black Flies, Simulium spp. UF/IFAS Featured Creatures. EENY-30. http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/livestock/bfly.htm

Mead, F.W. (June 1998). Asiatic Citrus Psyllid, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama. UF/IFAS Featured Creatures. EENY-33. http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/citrus/acpsyllid.htm

Villanueva, R. (June 1998). Tomato Hornworm, Manduca sexta, and Tobacco Hornworm, Manduca quinquemaculata UF/IFAS Featured Creatures. EENY-31. http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/field/hornworm.htm

Featured Creatures is located at http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/

NATL News

The retention basin in the Natural Area Teaching Laboratory has been recontoured by Site-Tech Construction, Inc., under a $46,900 contract. (The other four bids, which ranged from $57,000 to $102,900, were all over the $50,000 available for the contract.)

The recontouring was the first phase of SEEP (Stormwater Ecological Enhancement Project), a plan to turn NATL's cattail monoculture into a diversified wetlands (_five_ wetland communities) and improved aesthetics, wildlife, and water quality. The Wetlands Club is in charge of stabilizing the site and planting the species typical of these native communities and will probably ask for volunteer help in the near future. The club will soon install a concrete weir to regulate the flow of water from the water-treatment forebay (north of the dike across the basin) into the rest of the basin.

The dry weather was a godsend for bringing a bid within budget and speeding construction, but now the Club is hoping for rains to come and help with establishing wetland plants.

The NATL Advisory Committee has placed a temporary information board at the gate to NATL. It will explain exactly what is planned for SEEP and the rest of NATL, so that piles of clay and cut-down trees will be placed in the context of long-range goals for making NATL better for its purpose: to teach students and the public about ecology and biodiversity.

OUT AND ABOUT

Pauline Lawrence was an invited Rapporteur at the Fifth International Symposium on Fruit Flies of Economic Importance, held in Penang, Malaysia June 1-5. She also presented a poster on the new Caribfly strain of egg parasite, Biosteres arisanus, being developed in her laboratory.

In May she visited the USDA-ARS Tropical Fruit and Vegetable Laboratory in Honolulu, Hawaii for consultation with collaborators on research of a Medfly strain of the egg parasite Biosteres arisanus.

Dr. James P. Cuda participated in two conferences during the month of June. From June 3-7, he attended the 13th Annual Conference of the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council held in Palm Beach Gardens, and presented the paper "Ochyromera ligustri (Coleptera: Curculionidae), an Immigrant Natural Enemy of Chinese Privet, Ligustrum sinense (Oleaceae) in Florida".

The following week, Cuda attended the interdisciplinary conference entitled "Natural Resources Forum: Linkages in Ecosystem Science, Management & Restoration" held at the Gainesville Radisson Hotel, June 9-10. At this meeting, he presented the paper "Application of Plant Tissue Culture Technology for Research on Insect Natural Enemies of Hydrilla, Hydrilla verticillata (Hydrocharitaceae)". As a member of the steering committee for the Natural Resources Forum, he was invited to participate in a series of interviews with the following keynote speakers: Senator Jack Latvala, Chairman, Florida Senate Committee on Natural Resources; Bob Costanza, Director, Institute for Ecological Economics, University of Maryland (and a UF alumnus); John Mills, Director, UF Governmental Responsibility; and Terry Rice, Affiliate Professor, Environmental Research Programs, Florida International University.

DEPARTMENTAL BUZZ

Due to a reallocation of teaching priorities, ENY 6205 (Nutritional Ecology of Insects) will not be taught during the Fall, 1998 semester. Instead, Frank Slansky will coteach ENY 6203 (Insect Ecology) during the Spring, 1999 semester, along with Jon Allen and Robert McSorley.

Dr. Zhongxiao Chen (Michael) finally got settled in Wisconsin. He thanks the department for the heartfelt send off and writes that he will definitely miss Florida. He certainly will miss Florida once the Wisconsin winter sets in. His new address and phone number are:
Zhongxiao Chen (Michael)
271 Oakwood Ave #1
Plover, Wisconsin 54467
Tel: (715) 341-8192

EDITOR'S NOTE

For approximately the last 18 months I have had the distinct pleasure of producing the departmental newsletter, and I am now turning it over to Michael Patnaude. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the people that made the monthly newsletter possible. Jane Medley and Flora MacColl generously offered their assistance in teaching me the nuances of Pagemaker. Tom Fasulo was one of my most prolific contributors and a most valued critic; together we created the listserv and WWW versions of the newsletter. Finally, I extend my thanks to all of the people who have contributed submissions without being badgered to do so, you have made this job an enjoyable experience.
Thank you,
Tim McCoy

The next newsletter will be published Thursday, July 23. Deadline for contributions is Monday, July 20.

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

Hardcopy Editor: Tim McCoy

June 1998. Updated March 2003.