NEWSLETTER

CONGRATULATIONS LINNAEAN TEAM!!

Our University of Florida Linnaean team is the Linnaean Games champion for the southeastern branch of the Entomological Society of America!! The Linnaean Games were played at the SEB annual meeting in Biloxi, MS, on March 4. Team members Robin Goodson, Dorota Porazinska, Marco Toapanta, Chris Tipping, and alternate Clay Scherer faced the defending national champions, North Carolina State, in the first round. After a solid victory over NC State, Florida went on to beat Clemson in the semifinals. In the final round, Florida pulled out a very close and exciting victory over Mississippi State University. Both Florida and Mississippi State teams will represent the southeastern branch at the national competition in Louisville, KY, in early December. Coach Heather McAuslane and all Entomology & Nematology faculty are very proud of the team's accomplishments. Congratulations, Linnaean Games champions!!

PEST MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE

The first annual University of Florida Southeast Pest Management Conference was held March 10-14, 1996 in the J. Wayne Reitz Union. The conference was organized by Drs. Phil Koehler and Richard Patterson in cooperation with the National Pest Control Association (NPCA). It was a very successful event, having 342 in attendance and 20 exhibitors. Conference programs included sections on General Household Pests (GHP), Lawn and Ornamentals (L&O), Termites, Fumigation, and Core. These sections were designed to bring the pest control operators up to date on pest management strategies while earning continuing education units (CEUs) for recertification. Round table discussions encouraged participants to address key issues facing the pest control industry today and in the future.

Student presenters from the Department of Entomology and Nematology were John Cooksey: Surveillance, Monitoring and Inspection for Pest Ants; Chuck Strong: Cockroach Identification; Dini Miller: Inspection and Monitoring for Cockroaches. Core material presentations were prepared by John Morehouse, John Cooksey, John Petti, Chuck Strong, and Dini Miller. Conference projectionists included Hussein Sanchez and Dina Richardson. Also in attendance was Jerry Gahlhoff, undergraduate in the Urban Pest Management program.

SPRING 1996 CAMPUS VISITATION

Julieta Coulliette was the representative of our department on the Spring Campus Visitation Program that was held from 1-4 February. The program was organized by the Graduate Minority Program of the Office of Research, Technology, and Graduate Education of UF. Julieta participated in a panel of students that discussed why we chose UF for graduate work. The panel was asked questions from all fields about how we coped with the system, and what we liked and disliked. She met Ms. Roishene, who may become a graduate student in our department.

FACULTY, STAFF AND STUDENT NEWS

John Cooksey has been hired by Sandoz Agro as a summer sales intern. John's responsibilities will include presenting the Sandoz PCO product line to small and mid sized Pest Control Companies throughout the state of Florida.

Dr. Tom Sanford was invited to Canada, March 12-16 to participate in the Beekeeping Beyond 2000 Course to be held in Guelph, Ontario. He will discuss business practices and profitability, the impacts of exotic bee mites on beekeeping in Florida and the use of computers in beekeeping, including surfing the Internet.

Dr. Sanford was also a guest speaker at the Quebec Beekeepers Association meeting in Montreal February 6-9, 1996. He spoke on the history and treatment of exotic bee mites in Florida.

VISITORS

Dr. Richard Sikora, Professor of Nematology, Institu Fur Pflanzenkrankheiten der Rhein, Friedrich-Wilhelms Universitat, Bonn Germany will visit the Department on 19 and 20 of March. He will present a seminar titled Microbial diversity in the rhizosphere: Host-parasite-antagonist interactions leading to improved plant health.

Mrs. Elizabeth Nunez, Servicio Nacional de Sanidad Agraria, Ministerio de Agricultura, Lima, Peru, was visiting Marjorie Hoy's laboratory to learn how to rear the citrus leafminer and its parasitoid, Ageniaspis citricola. She returned to Peru on Tuesday, March 12 with parasitoids for rearing and release in Peruvian citrus groves.

Mr. Ramazan Canhilal, a researcher at the Adana Plant Protection Institute in Adana, Turkey is visiting Marjorie Hoy's laboratory for four months on a Winrock International Training Fellowship to learn more about biological control of the citrus leafminer. He will attend the International Conference on "Managing the Citrus Leafminer," which will take place April 22-24, 1996 in Orlando.

PUBLICATIONS

Accepted for publication by Environmental Entomology: Abundance of Frankliniella spp. (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) on Winter and Spring Hosts. J. Funderbunk, S. Webb, D. Chellemi, and J. Tsai.

M. Swisher, F. Beinroth and M. Toapanta. 1995. Agroecosystems Sustainability in the Caribbean and Pacific Islands. Caribbean Basin Agricultural Group. Gainesville, FL. 76 p.

Hoy, M. A., R. Nguyen, D. Hall, M. Pomerinke, J. Pena, H. Browning and P. Stansly. 1995. Establishment of citrus leafminer parasitoid Ageniaspis citricola in Florida. Citrus Industry December pp. 12-17.

Smith, J. M. and M. A. Hoy. 1995. Rearing methods for Ageniaspis citricola (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) and Cirrospilus quadristriatus (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) released in a classical biological control program for the citrus leafminer Phyllocnistis citrella (Lepidoptera: Gracillaridae). Florida Entomol. 78 (4): 600-608.

RELEASE OF TRANSGENIC ARTHROPOD

Marjorie Hoy received approval to release a transgenic strain of the predatory mite, Metaseiulus occidentalis on February 23, 1996 from USDA-APHIS, BBEP. For additional information about releases of transgenic arthropods and other invertebrates (a transgenic entomopathogenic nematode), see the USDA-APHIS world wide web page at:

http://www.aphis.usda.gov:80/bbep/bp/arthropod/#tgenadoc.

The site contains the environmental assessment and "finding of no significant impact", as well as the complete application. In addition, you can find a bibliography on transgenic arthropods and other information on how risk assessments are conducted.

GRADUATE STUDENT HOME PAGE

Two more graduate students in our department have added their c.v.s and photos to our home page. Check our Dini Miller and Jaw-Ching Liu. Other students should contact Dr. Skip Choate for information on doing this.

NATURAL AREA BURN STILL PLANNED

One of the top priorities in managing the Natural Area and Teaching Laboratory (NATL) that lies between us and the Doyle Connor Building is to restore the high pine ecosystem. That will require frequent burning, and with 40-years accumulation of fuel, the first burn is particularly challenging. Such a burn has been scheduled since before Christmas, but the right combination of moisture, wind, and fire crew availability has not occurred. Conditions now seem favorable for a burn between now and April. Thus if you see smoke rising from the woods east of DPI, don't call the fire department. Instead, be thankful that a sample of what was once the dominant ecosystem of this part of Florida will eventually be easily accessible to University of Florida students, classes, and visitors. - Tom Walker, Chair, Natural Area Advisory Committee

INSECTS NEEDED

Did you know that the teaching collection in Room 2216 has over 13,400 pinned specimens belonging to about 300 families and 27 orders? Unfortunately, only a few families are well represented and there is a dearth of specimens for some locally abundant groups. Please keep the teaching collection in mind if you already have or can easily collect material we need. Browse through the cabinets or see John Foltz for information on what's needed.

SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING

One of the periodicals in the Ent/Nem Reading Room is Scientific Computing & Automation. It covers technology for the scientific workplace. It includes articles about data acquisition, plus reviews of new software and hardware.

SOFTWARE

The department now has a CD with the complete Novell/WordPerfect Perfect Office software package. This CD includes WordPefect for Windows 6.1, Quattro Pro, Envoy, GroupWise, WordPerfect Presentations, and InfoCentral. The last is a nice personal manager program. WordPerfect for Windows 6.1 also includes a feature that allows you to save files in HTML. The University of Florida license allows all faculty and staff to install it on all university computer systems and a system at home also. Students can use it on university systems, but cannot take a copy home. See Steve Lasley for access to the CD or to copy programs across the network to your system.

COMPUTER IMAGES

Do you have 35 mm pictures (slides or negatives) you would like to have on the computer? If so, the Department now has a scanner for digitizing your film for either Macintosh or MS-DOS/Windows computers. Launch one of the ENY 3005 slide shows located on the Macintosh computers in the computer lab to view examples of digitized images. See Nick Hostettler or John Foltz for further information about scanning 35 mm film for computer displays.

A hard copy of this newsletter is given to department members in Building 970 only. All others can obtain an electronic subscription joining the listserv.

The next newsletter will be published Monday, April 15. Deadline for contributions is Thursday, April 11.

Editor: Enrique Perez

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

March 1996. Updated March 2003.