NEWSLETTER
March 2000 Entomology and Nematology News
Entomology and Nematology Student Organization
A University of Florida Publication

EXIT SEMINARS

Thomas Powell
Friday, March 31, 2000
9:00am in Room 1031
"Eastern Subterranean Termite (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) Tunneling Into Soil Treated With Non-repellent Termiticides"

Clint D. McFarland
Tuesday, April 18, 2000
8:30am in Room 1031
"Survival of the Asian Citrus Psylla, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Homoptera: Psyllidae) and its Two Parasitoids, Tamarixia radiata Waterson (Hymenoptera:Eulophidae) and Diaphorencyrtus aligarhensis Shafee, Alam and Agarwal (Hymenoptera: Encrytidae) Under Different Relative Humidities at 25 degrees C and 30 degrees C"

NEW COURSE

ENY 6822C - MOLECULAR BIOLOGY TECHNIQUES
SUMMER A 2000 (May 15th to June 23rd)

This will be a hands-on laboratory course. It targets Entomology and Nematology graduate students interested in learning, understanding and applying molecular biology techniques for their own research projects. The students will extract the DNA that will be used for further experiments. Maintenance of an adequate laboratory notebook, oral presentation of a project using the techniques learned, attendance and active participation in every aspect of the course will be the major criteria for grades.

Instructors: Dr. James Maruniak and Dr. Alejandra Garcia Maruniak
Meeting time: M, T, W, Th, and F
From 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon (1st through 3rd period)
Credits: 4
Location: Entomology and Nematology Department - Room 3130
Prerequisites: Any basic course in genetics, biochemistry or molecular biology
Enrollment limited to 8 students - Contact Dr. Jim Maruniak or Dr. Ale Garcia Maruniak (392-1901 ext. 203 or 148)

BREAKFAST, ANYONE?

Make plans to attend this years Graduate Student Appreciation Breakfast on April 10, 2000 in Room 1031. Breakfast will be available beginning at 9:15 am, and recognition of graduate students will begin at 9:45 am. If the nine o'clock hour is too early, breakfast will be available until 11:00 am or until the food sources are depleted by the ravenous early birds.

NEWS FROM SEB
by Mike Patnaude

Dr. Lloyd presented a talk on fireflies. About two minutes before his talk his fishing pole lights worked perfectly including his backup. Halfway into his talk he picked one up and nothing. He turned to the backup and nothing. He improvised wonderfully by grabbing a penlight and proceeded to display the firefly signals. As soon as he left the room, both lights worked again. Murphy's law. However the story isn't finished. The next speaker started his talk and proceeded to advance to the next slide. He sheepishly looked around and exclaimed "Where is the projector remote?" Apparently as part of a sinister plan, Dr. Lloyd scurried off with the remote in an evil plot to sabotage the organization he loves so much. He was chased down the hall and, when caught, tried to pin the blame on one of the news people who was helping him carry his equipment out. Before you could say firefly, the remote was back in the hands of the next speaker and he continued.

Linnaean Team

Our department sent two teams out this year; Dr. Zenger (coach for both) Team A (Phillip Lake (Captain), Yasmin Cardoza, Richard Pluke, Michael Patnaude and Jade Williams (Alternate)) and Team B (Dina Richman (Captain), Thomas Merritt, Cynthia Tucker, Dave Almquist and David Serrano (Alternate)). The competition was tough but in the final round Arkansas and Team A battled for the first slot. Team A put up a good fight but in the end Arkansas pulled ahead. The good news is that Team A and Arkansas will be sent to the ESA meeting in Montreal to compete. So Team A has their foot in the door and will get a rematch to show them what we are made of.

The Linnaean team A would like to give a special thanks to our former coach, Dr. Christopher Tipping. Although we did not place last year, we remembered his teachings and that gave us the extra inspiration we needed.

Photo Salon

The competition was a lot tougher this year. First place went to Florida A&M for a frontal shot of a treehopper. Second place went to Auburn for a shot of two dung beetles rolling a ball of their favorite stuff. UF couldn't leave without something and as a result Michael Patnaude took third for a damselfly sitting on a flower with it's molt in the water.

As a side note, the best "trophy" went to Michael Patnaude (in his own opinion) for his photo of a questing female Ixodes scapularis entitled "Tick on a stick", which another professor asked if he could use in a med/vet book he is publishing next year.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Mary Donohue successfully defended her thesis (Elicitors of corn seedling volatiles from tissues of Schistocerca americana (Drury)and Spodoptera exigua (Hubner)) on March 14. She will continue her studies in Entomology at Colorado State University, focusing on IPM and pests of wheat.

Debra Boyd, laboratory technician, received a 2000 UF/IFAS Superior Accomplishment Award in the category of USPS Scientific/Technical. The prize consists of a $100 check, a certificate and a commemorative coffee mug set. She may now compete for campus-wide recognition in her category. Good luck!

Dr. Tom Sanford was awarded a Fulbright lecturing grant to Ecuador from May through September 2000. He plans to be involved in the teaching of entomology and beekeeping at the Pontificia Universidad Catlica del Ecuador (PUCE) http://www.puce.edu.ec/, cooperating with Dr. Giovanni Onore of that faculty. "The Fulbright Program, recognized as the U.S. government's flagship program in international educational exchange, was proposed to the U.S. Congress in 1945 by then freshman Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas. Senator Fulbright viewed the proposed program as a much-needed vehicle for promoting "mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries of the world." The program would provide grantees and their hosts the opportunity to better comprehend the institutions, cultures and societies of other parts of the world. Congress approved J. William Fulbright's vision and the program signed into law by President Truman in 1946".

The University of Florida had six Fulbright grants awarded in 1999 and three in 1998.

VISITORS

Dr. Laura Ortega of the Colegio de Postgraduados, Vera Cruz, Mexico is a visiting scientist at the Gulf Coast Research & Education Center. Besides learning about the IPM and production practices of Florida vegetables, Dr. Ortega is evaluating commercial products and chemical components for repellency to the silverleaf whitefly. She will be returning to Mexico in late April.

KANAPAHA

UES and ENSO joined forces to represent the department at the 2000 Kanapaha Spring Garden Festival. Our booth won first place in the Best Informational Booth competition for the second year in a row! The booth contained an assortment of live insects so both children and adults could get up close and personal with a few of our invertebrate "friends". Thank you to everyone who volunteered his or her time, as our award would not have been possible without your commitment.

SPECIAL THANKS

to those students and members of the faculty and staff for their help in making the "Insect Encounter" a huge success. The exhibit, presented at the State Fair on February 22 in Tampa, represented concerted the efforts of USDA, APHIS, ARS-MAVERL, Florida Department of Agriculture, DPI and the Florida Mosquito Control Association. The exhibit was well received, thanks in large part to the time and effort of the following people:
John Capinera
Norm Leppla
Larry Jacobs
Don Hall
Cyndy Tucker
Deanna Branscome
Tom Fasulo
John Zenger
Susan Wineriter
Jason Stanley
Susan Webb
Chris Bennett
Jim Cuda
Pete Coon
Drion Boucias
Clay Scherer
Tommy Powell
Nik Hostetler
Cara Congdon
Kathryn Barbara
Eric Hansen
Aissa Doumbouya
Cliff Martin
Josh King
Heather Smith
Tom Merritt
Melanie Tremelling
Paul Ruppert
Marco Toapanta

LUNCHTIME MOVIE (sponsored by ENSO)

Bring your lunch and join us to watch some insect films. Free popcorn will be provided. April 7th: Woman in the Dunes (1964) Drama. A Japanese entomologist finds himself held prisoner in a sandpit with an alluring woman who expects him to work at her side. To his surprise, the scientist develops an intense bond with his female companion and resigns himself to an eternity of hypnotic routine. A surreal allegory reflecting man's grim fate, adapted from the acclaimed existentialist novel by Kobo Abe. The movie will start at 12:30 PM. Location to be announced.

ENSO NEWS

Thank you to everyone who helped with the booth at the Kanapaha Spring Garden Festival! ENSO and UES worked together at manning the booth for the weekend. For the second year in a row, the department took first place out of all the informational booths present.

Our ENSO carwash, held Saturday March 25th, was a wonderful success, not to mention fun at the same time. We made $300 and could have made at least double that, but our poor crew just tuckered out. We look forward to holding another car wash in the summer (hint, hint) and hope to see everybody there. Thank you to the faculty that brought their cars and supported us! And thank you to the 8 or 9 ENSO members that made it possible, you guys were terrific.

ENSO elections are coming up at the next meeting on April 19th at 5:15 pm in room 1031. Nominations were submitted at the last meeting, but we will accept nominations for the positions of ENSO president, vice president, secretary and treasurer until Wednesday April 5th by 5 pm. Send them to Kathryn Jones, the ENSO secretary.

Don't forget the Faculty/Staff/Student Spring picnic at Lake Wauberg starting at 10 AM this Saturday, April 1st. Remember all are welcome, friends and family. Remember to enter the park, each car must have at least one Gator One ID. Come and enjoy the food and fun, and don't forget your sunscreen!

ENSO is putting together a team to participate in the MS Walk 2000 on April 15th. We need walkers or runners to help form our team to walk or run a 5k. Registration begins at 8am, the walk begins at 9am and lunch will be provided by Dominoes at 10am.

Much funding is needed for Multiple Sclerosis research so please participate if you can. If you are unable to participate please pledge money with one of the participants. A sign up list will be placed with Nancy in the office please write your email address and MAILING address so pledge materials can be sent to you and Katie Barbara can register you so you won't have to.

UES NEWS

We have certainly had a lot going on in the past month! Our most exciting event was the Kanapaha Spring Festival which both UES and ENSO participated. We all had a great time and we want to thank all of the faculty, staff and students that came out to ensure the booth's success!

Last month we attended the annual FPCA Ant Symposium in Orlando. This conference brings some of the top researchers in to talk and give updates on the newest research concerning pest ant species. Several members of UES attended the conference where we introduced our new product line. It turned out to be a great success not only for selling but also for meeting industry professionals.

Our interviews with Western Pest Control were some of the most important things this month. Tom Walters, Regional Manager for this company, came to our department to interview graduating students for a possible job in Ft. Lauderdale. This was a great opportunity for everyone to gain interviewing experience as well as a possible job in the industry. We routinely have industry professionals approach our club with an expressed interest to hire our students. Our next round of interviewing is with Clegg Pest Control out of Raleigh, NC. Also in March, we had two $500 scholarships that were awarded. These scholarships were based solely on the participant's resume posted on our website. We'd like to congratulate Jason Stanley and Russ Horton on the great jobs they did with their resumes!

Our monthly social is coming up on March 31st and will be held at the ABD rotator lounge. As usual, all members are invited and guests are $5. So if you're not a member, I suggest you start getting involved today!

For the month of April, we also have quite a bit coming up. Graduating students will be interviewing with Clegg Pest Control on April 4. Our trip to visit Bayer Corporation is on April 7-8 and we will also be attending the annual CPCO convention in Ft. Lauderdale on April 24-27. If you are at all interested in going to great events like those mentioned above, please get yourself involved! Our next meeting will be on April 12 at 6:30pm in the courtyard. We all hope to see you there!

MEETINGS/PRESENTATIONS

Michael Patnaude's photo of Psorophora ferox in flight is displayed on the cover of the current winter 1999 issue of "Wing Beats", a publication of the American Mosquito Control Association by the Florida Mosquito Control Association.

Phillip Lake presented the talk "Aspects of the Biology of the Neonate Larva of Pheropsophus aequinoctialis" in the Student Symposium on Immature Insects at the ESA's Southeastern Branch Meeting in Mobile, AL.

Andy Rasmussen recently traveled to Mobile, Alabama for the Southeastern Branch meeting of the Entomological Society of America. There he presented a talk titled "EPT Fauna of Florida: Biodiversity and Spatial Distribution" as part of a symposium on insect conservation in the southeastern US.

Thomas Fasulo was a plenary speaker at the 4th Annual Southeast Regional Public Health and Vector Management Conference that was held in Panama City, FL on February 22-24, 2000.

Dr.Jerry Butler and Dr. Gene Geberg attended the American Mosquito Control Meetings at Atlantic City NJ March 11 to 16th.

Dr. Julio Medal was invited to attend the international workshop on the 'Biological Control of Tropical Weeds' held in Brisbane, Australia from March 13 to 25 March, 2000. Medal provided the participants an overview of the biological research activities with Tropical Soda Apple in Florida and in South America. He is now organizing the first Latino-American short-course (one-week) on 'Biological Control of Weeds' that will be held in September, 2001 in Nicaragua in cooperation with the Universidad Nacional Agraria.

Dr. James P. Cuda participated in the UF/IFAS Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants Research and Extension Review- 2000 held at the Reitz Union, 7 March. Cuda presented the paper, "Using CLIMEX and FAWN for Predicting Establishment of a Biological Control Agent for Brazilian Peppertree." The paper was co-authored by Howard Beck and Nan Lin, UF/IFAS Office of Information Technologes.

Dr. James P. Cuda attended 64th Annual Meeting of the Florida Academy of Sciences held in Melbourne, Florida, 9-11 March. Cuda presented the paper,"Predicting the Potential Distribution in Florida of a Classical Biological Control Agent of Brazilian Peppertree, Schinus terebinthifolius."

Dr. James P. Cuda was an invited speaker at the Annual Spring Plant Fair sponsored by the Environmental Horticulture Graduate Student Association, Fifield Hall, on 18 March. Cuda gave a presentation entitled, "Biocontrol Fever: Catch It!"

Dr. James P. Cuda attended the workshop "Surveillance and Reconnaissance Flights for Invasive Plants" on 23 March. The workshop was held at the South Florida Water Management District Headquarters in West Palm Beach.

Last November, the Florida Pest Control Association (FPCA) asked Tom Fasulo to give a presentation on pesticides for Core CEU training. Figuring that at worse it would be in the evening during the week, Tom agreed. Next time Tom will ask for more specifics before agreeing to anything. The presentation was not only on Saturday, February 26, but was also in Ocala. However, he took along a dozen of the new insect key chains that ENSO is selling and the pesticide applicators at the meeting snapped them up. Tom then manned the departmental booth at the FPCA Ant Management conference in Orlando on March 17th. At least this meeting was on a Friday. Then he cooperated with Howard Frank on a display at the UF Turfgrass Day on March 24th emphasizing Frank's research on mole crickets and their joint turfgrass insect pest software publications. Turfgrass managers from around the state comprised the audience at this event.

PUBLICATIONS

Cuda, J.P., B.R. Coon, J.L. Gillmore, and T.D. Center. 1999. Preliminary report on the biology of a hydrilla tip mining midge (Diptera: Chironomidae). Aquatics 21: 15-18.

Cuda, J.P., J.H. Pedrosa-Macedo and M.D. Vitorino. 2000. Predicting the Potential Distribution in Florida of a Classical Biological Control Agent of Brazilian Peppertree, Schinus terebinthifolius. Florida Scientist 63, Supplement 1: 5 (Abstract).

EXTRAS

Dr. John Strayer, when visiting his "retirement home" in North Carolina, reports that he sometimes meets with local Cooperative Service Extension agents who tell him that they access the information in Featured Creatures to help them in their state.

FEATURED CREATURES

The UF Entomology and Nematology Department and the USDA have added files on the following organisms to the Featured Creatures WWW site at: http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/

Sourakov, A., and E. Mitchell. Wasp parasitoid, Cotesia marginiventris (Cresson).
Sourakov, A., and E. Mitchell. Wasp parasitoid, Diadegma insulare (Cresson).
Sourakov, A., and E. Mitchell. Wasp parasitoid, Meteorus autographae Muesebek.
Capinera, J.L. Imported cabbageworm, Pieris rapae (Linnaeus)

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

CEU/TRAINING TUTORIALS

There have been some changes in the computer-verified CEU/Training software tutorials developed by members of this department. All UF computer-verified tutorials authorized for Commercial Core re-certification by the state of Florida are also authorized for General Studies/Core CEUs. All Commercial Lawn and Ornamental tutorials are also authorized for Ornamental and Lawn, Limited Lawn and Ornamental and Limited Lawn Maintenance CEUs. The "attendance forms" distributed with the software packages do not reflect this, but this has been approved by the state of Florida. However, the "attendance forms" available on the Buggy Software WWW site in PDF format under CEU Tutorials reflect this.

The Buggy Software site is available at http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/fasulo/pests/software

SOFTWARE TUTORIALS - CEU CATEGORIES

The UF computer-verified training tutorials on Beneficial Insects #1 and Beneficial Insects #2 are now approved for three new categories: Private Agricultural Applicator, Agricultural Row Crop and Agricultural Tree Crop. These two are also approved for Commercial L&O, O&T, Limited L&O, and Limited Lawn Maintenance. Beneficial Insects #2 was just developed and should be available for use in May. Two tutorials approved for the Commercial Termite category, Eastern Subterranean Termite and Wood-Destroying Insects, were also just approved for the Wood Treatment category.

Something missing from your newsletter? If there is something you would like to see in future editions of the newsletter, please send all thoughts, suggestions and supportive criticisms to Erin Britton

The next newsletter will be published on Friday, June 30th. The deadline for contributions is Wednesday, June 28th.

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: 

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

March 2000. Updated May 2003.