NEWSLETTER

STUDENT NEWS

Congratulations to Juan Antonio and Maria Villanueva-Jimenez for their baby boy, Juan Axel, born on August 23. He is 18.5 inches long and weighs 5 lbs., 12 oz. Fortunately he looks a lot like his mother.

Denise Johanowicz attended The International Meeting "Symbiosis 96," held in Bar Harbor, Maine. Participants discussed various symbioses, including Wolbachia symbionts in arthropods, aphid and termite symbionts, bioluminescent symbionts in marine animals, symbionts of thermal vent and deep sea animals, and other mutualistic and parasitic symbioses. She presented a poster titled "Biological and Molecular Studies of Wolbachia Symbionts in a Mite Predator-Prey System."

Jason Byrd conducted a lecture and workshop on forensic entomology for the Internal Association for Identification. The workshop introduced law enforcement officers, crime scene technicians, medical examiners, and state appointed legal advisors to the use of entomology in legal investigations. The workshop was featured on CNN's (The Cable News Network) "Headline News" as an area of biological science newly available to law enforcement agencies.

Marjorie A. Hoy was elected a Fellow of the Entomological Society of America. The award will be presented at the national ESA meeting in December.

Tom Walker attended the 10th International Meeting on Insect Sound and Vibration at Woods Hole, Mass., September 8-11, and gave a paper on "Trilling Field Crickets in a Zone of Overlap."

Marjorie A. Hoy will present an invited talk at the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Association) consultants' meeting, "Potential Practical Application of Genetic Engineering and Molecular Biology to Aid Genetic Control of Insect Pests," in Vienna, September 30-October 4.

PUBLICATIONS

J. L. Castner, J. H. Byrd, and J. F. Butler. Forensic Insect Field Identification cards. These cards help crime scene technicians and medical examiners identify common insects found on human cadavers. This is an effort to improve communication between forensic scientists and entomologists.

Hoy, M. A. 1996. Chapter 9. "Novel Arthropod Biological Control Agents," pp. 164-185. In: Persley, G. J. (ed.), Biotechnology and Integrated Pest Management, CAB Int., Wallingford. Proc. of a Bellagio Conference on Biotechnology for Integrated Pest Management, October 1993, Lake Como, Italy.

BIOCONTROL OF MESQUITE IN AUSTRALIA

Dr. James Cuda was recently contacted by CSIRO entomologist Dr. Tim Heard, of the Long Pocket Labs in Indooroopilly, regarding an insect that Cuda studied as part of a USDA biocontrol project on weeds of southwestern U.S. rangelands.

The insect, Mozena obtusa Uhler, is a coreid bug that feeds on the vascular tissues of developing shoot tips, flower buds, leaves and pods of mesquite, Prosopis spp. The feeding activity of the nymphs and adults inhibits seed production which contributes to the plant's invasiveness. The bug is now being considered as a candidate for biocontrol of mesquite in Australia, where several species of mesquite have been introduced without their natural enemy complex. Dr. Heard imported adults and nymphs of M. obtusa into their quarantine lab on August 29 to conduct host specificity tests, and requested information on rearing procedures.

NEW STUDENTS

The Entomology and Nematology Department welcomes the following new graduate students: Juan Alvarez (McCoy); Janete Brito (Maruniak); Juan Huang (Nuessly/McAuslane); Carl Boohene (Lawrence); Hye Rim (Helena) Han (Dickson); Hugo Kons (Emmel); Hussein Sanchez-Arroyo (Koehler); Pieter Van Essen (Kline/Lemire); Xiaochun Zhang (O'Brien); Hazel Levy.

MORE ON PEST ALERT

Dr. Robert Dunn, extension nematologist at the University of Florida, recently received a number of requests concerning that lowliest of creatures, the earthworm. To meet these requests he reviewed the literature and compiled a list of references which he has posted to Pest Alert. The list includes UF/IFAS extension publications, reference books, and World Wide Web sites. The list is posted under all of the crop categories of Pest Alert.

Dr. Dunn has also issued a plea for help from county agents and master gardeners to be on the lookout for "new nematicides" that are being offered to Florida residents. The complete text is posted under all of the crop categories of Pest Alert.

Pest Alert is available at http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/pestalert/

IV INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON ECTOPARASITES

The 4th International Symposium on Ectoparasites of Pets will be held at the University of California at Riverside on April 6-8, 1997. For more information contact Dr. Nancy Hinkle, Dept. of Entomology, Univ. of California, Riverside, CA, 92521

XXI INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF ENTOMOLOGY

The next International Congress of Entomology (XXI) will be held in Foz do Iguacu, Brazil in the year 2000. The site of the Congress, Iguacu Falls, is recognized as the most beautiful water falls in the world.

For more information contact the Committee for the Brazilian Candidacy: D.L. Gazzoni, EMBRAPA, Ministry of Agriculture; F. Moscardi, EMBRAPA; J.R.P. Parra, USP, SEB; M.D. Tadano, COBRAFI; Marcos Kogan, IPPC; and P.J. Oliveira. Another name provided is: Decio Luiz Gazzoni, National Soybean Research Center, Brazilian Enterprise of Agricultural Research, P.O. Box 231, 86001-970-Londrina-PR-BRAZIL. Phone (0044) 43-371-6213; fax (0055) 43-371-6100 and e-mail: gazzoni@cnpso.embrapa.br. (Information taken from a brochure handed out at the XX International Congress of Entomology.)

NETSCAPE'S NAVIGATOR 3.0

A number of computers in the department are still running Netscape's Navigator version 1.1. The current version is 3.0 and it is FREE for educational users. If you are running Navigator version 1.1 you may have trouble downloading software off the WWW, such as shareware or video card drivers, or even accessing WWW pages that use frames. Accessing WWW sites with frames may even kick you completely out of Windows.

The Netscape home page, and site downloading the new version, is listed on the top of the Netscape window, under Directory. If you have version 2.0, you can download version 3.0, double-click on the self-executing file and the setup routine will guide you through the installation.

If you have version 1.1 you must do things differently. When downloading under version 2.0 you see a sliding bar in the middle of the screen showing you the download process. When downloading under version 1.1, you don't see the bar, but the number of bytes downloaded at the bottom of the screen. If you have version 1.1 currently installed and you download version 3.0, you should move the self-executing file to a separate, empty directory. After doing this, double-click on the file, it will unZIP into many files.

These files are the setup file supported by version 2.0. After unZIPing the file, double-click on the file SETUP.EXE and Netscape will begin the install process. In both cases, when the install process asks if you want to keep the Netscape IN file, answer YES. When the install process asks if you want to register it, you MUST do so. It will automatically take you to Netscape's Registration screen.

Fill in the information about who you are, where you work, your e-mail address, etc. It takes about four minutes. This registers you as a FREE user with a university. After the install process is complete, you can delete the self-executing file or the files in the temporary directory you set up.

- Thomas Fasulo

PART TIME RESEARCH POSITION

Student needed to work 20 hours/week (flexible hours) at the USDA/ARS Center for Medical, Agricultural, and Veterinary Entomology on the biological control of mosquitoes. Experience preferred, but dependability and enthusiasm a must!

Opportunities for research projects and training in various aspects of mosquito biology and insect pathology available. Starting salary: $6.17/hr; benefits include annual and sick leave. Contact: James Becnel 374-5961 or Peg Johnson 374-5963 (7 am-5 pm), USDA/ARS Center for Medical, Agricultural, and Veterinary Entomology, 1600 SW 23rd Drive Gainesville, FL 32608.

SOFTWARE

CorelDraw 5 for Windows 3.1x and CorelDraw 6 for Windows 95 are available. Each package includes several different applications, more than 800 fonts, and more than 20,000 clipart images and photos. They have a suggested retail price of $695. The educational price is $139. This price is available to accredited educational institutions, faculty, staff and post-secondary students.

WWW SITE

BIOSIS is a publisher of biological abstracts and zoological records. It has a WWW site at http://www.biosis.org/. This site lists reviews on biological software, and resources on taxonomy and nomenclature as well as other materials. It earned an award as a Four-Star Magellan Site.

BLOOD DRIVE

There will be a blood drive today at the Entomology and Nematology building from 1-4 p.m. Your efforts can make a life saving difference to many people. Each pint of blood donated has the potential to touch up to four lives. Please donate blood.

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

The next newsletter will be published Tuesday, October 15. Deadline for contributions is Friday, October 11.

Editor: Enrique Perez

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

September 1996. Revised March 2003.