ENTOMOLOGY and NEMATOLOGY NEWS
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October 10th, 2018

insect collecting

ABOVE: Dr. Andrea Lucky and Dr. Jiri Hulcr led a Bug Walk for the Alachua Conservation Trust, at the Tuscawilla preserve in Micanopy. Over 50 people attended. Some folks came from as far as Citrus County!

Faculty and Staff News

The Taylor lab’s research was recently featured in Wired magazine, NPR’s Weekend Edition, and the Medium. These stories highlight our use of makeup, false eyelashes, and 3D models to understand the mating strategies jumping spiders.

K. Grace Crummer joined the department on October 1 as the new Center Coordinator for the NSF Center for Arthropod Management Technologies (CAMTech). Grace, a native of Gainesville, worked previously as an Ecosystem Ecology Lab Manager, Project Coordinator for PINEMAP and most recently as Coordinator for the UF Institute for Sustainable Food Systems. Grace will direct and manage the daily operations of CAMTech and serve as the central point of contact for center activities. The CAMTech Director is Dr. Bryony Bonning.

Dr. James P. Cuda was invited to be an external examiner of a Master’s thesis submitted to Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa.  The thesis was titled, “Interaction between the root-feeding beetle Longitarsus bethae (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) and the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne javanica (Nematoda: Heteroderidae): Implications for the biological control of Lantana camara L. (Verbenaceae) in South Africa”.

Dr. James P. Cuda was the recipient of $5,000 University Term Professor Award. The three year professorships are given to recognize and reward faculty achievements.

The Chouvenc lab is now hosting new residents: the little yellow ant (Plagiolepis alluaudi),

ABOVE: The Chouvenc lab is now hosting new residents: the little yellow ant (Plagiolepis alluaudi), which is the newest invasive ant species in Florida, is now established in laboratory colonies, and will be used for Matthew Miller's graduate research project. Colony of P. alluaudi kept in planar arena in the laboratory, with a large brood and multiple queens (each of them is ~2mm).

Insect Molecular Genetics, Edition Four, ISBB 9780128152300, by Dr. Marjorie A. Hoy, is now available for pre-order at the Elsevier Store. If you use code ATR30 on check out you will receive a 30% discount.

Student and Alumni News

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award winning photos

ABOVE: Matt Borden (DPM/MS student in the Dale Lab) won a medal for Best of Show - Sequence at the 2018 National Insect Salon, a Photographic Society of America-sanctioned Nature competition.

Need to name that bug? A host of experts are available to help Floridians identify any insect or related arthropod. If a mystery creature has six or more legs, the UF Insect ID Lab is the place to call.

If you have candy left over after the trick-or-treaters visit, don’t let it sit around too long.

ABOVE: If you have candy left over after the trick-or-treaters visit, don’t let it sit around too long. Chocolate and other candy may not be nutritious for kids, but stored product pests like cigarette beetles and Indianmeal moths do just fine on a diet of chocolate. 

Need insect images? You can go to this direct link, pictures are copyrighted material and intended for official UF use only, log onto the website using your Gatorlink credentials.

Lyle Buss is the UF/IFAS Insect ID Lab manager.

Think it might be a nematode problem? The Nematode Assay Laboratory serves Florida and other states by providing nematode assays and expert advice regarding nematode management.

Laban Goolsby has been promoted from OPS to a Lab Tech 1. Way to go Laban!

nem lab bench equipment

ABOVE: The Nematode Assay Lab just expanded their services by purchasing molecular diagnostics equipment.  They provide molecular identification of nematodes for $100 per sample.

For more information on the Nematode Assay Laboratory, please contact the lab manager Dr. Billy Crow.

Publications

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Bahder BW, Helmick EE, Chakrabarti S, Osorio S, Soto N, Chouvenc T,  Harrison NA. Disease progression of a lethal decline caused by the 16Sr IV‐D phytoplasma in Florida palms. Plant Pathology 67: 1821-1828. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ppa.12882.

Borden MA, Buss EA, Park Brown SG, Dale AG. 2018. Natural products for managing landscape and garden pests in Florida. EDIS Publication ENY350. UF/IFAS Extension.

Capinera JL. 2018. Assessment of barrier materials to protect plants from Florida leatherleaf slug (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Veronicellidae). Florida Entomologist 101: 373-381.

Capinera JL. 2018. Evaluation of copper hydroxide as a repellent and feeding deterrent for Cuban brown snail (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Pleurodontidae). Florida Entomologist 101: 369-373.

Chouvenc T, Li H-F, Su N-Y. 2018. Connecting termite researchers from around the world at ICE 2016. American Entomologist 64: 152-154. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ae/tmy051.

Chouvenc T. 2018. Comparative impact of chitin synthesis inhibitor baits and non-repellent liquid termiticides on subterranean termite colonies over foraging distances: Colony elimination versus localized termite exclusion. Journal of Economic Entomology 111: 2317-2328. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/toy210.

Gu M, Crow WT. 2018. Abamectin, thiophanate-methyl, and iprodione for management of sting nematode on golf turf. Nematropica 48: 38-44.

McGregor BL, Runkel AE, Wisely SM, Burkett-Cadena ND. 2018. Vertical stratification of Culicoides biting midges at a Florida big game preserve. Parasites & Vectors 11(1):505. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-018-3080-5.

New on Featured Creatures:

Pasteuria penetrans (Bacilli: Bacillales: Pasteuriaceae). Authors: Ruhiyyih Dyrdahl-Young and Peter DiGennaro.


bumelia webworm, Urodus parvula (Edwards 1881). Author: Donald W. Hall.


pure gold-green sweat bee, Augochlora pura (Say 1837). Authors: Clancy A. Short and Andrea Lucky.

Do you have a favorite creature? Learn how to make it into a Featured Creatures!

Meetings and Presentations

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Dr. Nathan Burkett-Cadena presented a seminar entitled "Evolución y ecología de la alimentación de sangre por mosquitos" (Presentation delivered in Spanish, "Evolution and ecology of blood feeding by mosquitoes") at The XI Jornadas Regionales Sobre Mosquitos​ (11th Regional Conference on Mosquitoes) in La Rioja, Argentina. The Jornadas were organized by the Center for Research and Technological Innovation (CENIIT-SECyT, UNLaR), Institute of Conservation Biology and Paleobiology (IBICOPA) and the Bachelor's Degree in Biological Sciences Department of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences of the National University of La Rioja.​ 

http://entnemdept.ifas.ufl.edu/news/2010-2012/images/divider.jpgDr. James P. Cuda and Dr. Norm Leppla attended the 2018 Fregly Interdisciplinary Symposium titled, “Mosquito borne illnesses in the US & Latin America”, held at the Smathers Library and Health Science Center, October 4th and 5th. The symposium was named in honor of the Melvin J. Fregly, a biomedical researcher and former Dean of the UF College of Medicine. The purpose of the symposium was to address social, cultural, and scientific issues raised by mosquito-borne diseases affecting US and Latin America human populations.

http://entnemdept.ifas.ufl.edu/news/2010-2012/images/divider.jpg

Dr. Billy Crow presented  “How nematicides work” to the South Florida Golf Course Superintendents Association in Ft. Lauderdale FL on September 11th.

Dr. Billy Crow presented a webinar for the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America “How nematicides work” on September 12th.

Dr. Billy Crow presented “Nematodes you have never heard of that can cause you problems” at the Florida Turfgrass Association Conference and Show in St. Augustine FL on September 18th.

Tina Gu presented “Bermudagrass root rot disease complex associated with two plant-parasitic nematodes and Pythium spp.” at the Florida Turfgrass Association Conference and Show in St. Augustine FL on September18th.

http://entnemdept.ifas.ufl.edu/news/2010-2012/images/divider.jpgOn October 3rd, the entomology team at WFREC had a visit from students from Jim Allen Elementary school. Latisa (Dr. Paula-Moraes technician) and Marcelo Mendes (visiting Ph.D. student) explained to the students the existence of economic pests and natural enemies associated with field crops, during the presentation: “The bad and the good bugs”.  

http://entnemdept.ifas.ufl.edu/news/2010-2012/images/divider.jpgDr. Thomas Chouvenc was invited to the Certified Pest Control Operators of Florida (CPCO) ‘field day’ in West Palm Beach on Sept. 21st to present an update on his research about subterranean termite control

Dr. Thomas Chouvenc and new graduate student Matthew Miller participated to the 2018 Southwest Pest Management Conference (SWPMC) in Ft. Myers (organized by Dr. Phil Koehler and Dr. Roberto Pereira), to present their work on invasive termites and invasive ants.

Outreach

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From the Outreach Coordinator

September Outreach Events:
Spetember 5th- Master Gardener seminar: Dr. Rebecca Baldwin, Clayton Bania, Sage Thompson
September 11th- CALS Kickoff : Clayton Bania, the Entomology Club!
September 18th- CALS Majors and Minors Fair: Dr. Baldwin, Clayton Bania, and the Entomology Club!
September 18th- Exotic Animal Club: Clayton Bania
September 22nd- Gator Touch a Truck: Clayton Bania

The live critters are always a hit with children and adults alike. The critters are available for you to check out should you be leading an outreach event. We have doubles of our most popular critters, as well as various native insect species depending on the time of year. We have large wood and Plexiglas cages for viewing our native orb weaving spiders. There is one travel cage and one larger static cage. Please be sure to contact us and review the protocol on transporting and handling the critters if you are not already familiar with it. If you lead an outreach, be sure to fill out a documentation form so your event can be included in the newsletter and we can log all outreach events.

If you have any questions, please email me.

Thank you —Clayton Bania, Outreach Coordinator.

If you would like to schedule an event or have any outreach questions, go to the Outreach pages on our Bug Club website and contact us.

Getting social!

We have several social media sites for the Entomology & Nematology Department. To make them easily searchable, all three (YouTube, Facebook and Twitter) have the same page name: UFEntomology. Please share these links with past students or colleagues who may have an interest in departmental activities.

Grants

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Dr. Lisa Taylor just received five years of funding ($420,000) from the National Science Foundation for a collaborative project entitled ‘Repeated evolution of color vision in jumping spiders: an integrated approach to understanding diversification of visual systems and signals’. This is part of a large collaborative grant (~$2M) with Dr. Nathan Morehouse (University of Cincinnati), Dr. Wayne Maddison (University of British Columbia), and Dr. Megan Porter (University of Hawaii).

Spider

ABOVE: With this grant, members of the Taylor lab will be using behavioral experiments to understand the adaptive benefits of color vision, mostly in the context of foraging. It includes fieldwork in Australia and India to study some of the most brilliantly colored jumping spiders in the world (including the peacock spiders of internet fame).  (Peacock spider photo by Jurgen Otto).

http://entnemdept.ifas.ufl.edu/news/2010-2012/images/divider.jpgMatt Borden (DPM/MS student in the Dale Lab) was awarded a Graduate Student Council travel grant ($350) to attend the ESA meeting in Vancouver next month.

http://entnemdept.ifas.ufl.edu/news/2010-2012/images/divider.jpgEleanor Phillips (DPM/MS student in the Gillett-Kaufman Lab) was awarded a Graduate Student Council travel grant ($350) to attend the November ESA meeting in Vancouver.

http://entnemdept.ifas.ufl.edu/news/2010-2012/images/divider.jpgWant grant writing tips? Check out the UF Libraries Grants Management Program!

Announcements

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The School of Structural Fumigation organized by Dr. Thomas Chouvenc, Dr. Rudi Scheffrahn and Dr. William Kern will take place at the Ft. Lauderdale Research and Education Center on Nov. 12th-16th 2018. This Session will celebrate the 30 years of the existence of the Fume School.

http://entnemdept.ifas.ufl.edu/news/2010-2012/images/divider.jpgLibrary Corner

Discover all the Entomology resources available from the UF Libraries: http://guides.uflib.ufl.edu/entomology


Submitted by: Michelle Leonard
Marston Science Library, University of Florida
mleonard@uflib.ufl.edu; 352-273-2866 (ph)
orcid.org/0000-0002-9017-3591

http://entnemdept.ifas.ufl.edu/news/2010-2012/images/divider.jpgWant to stay up to date? Check out our website home page for a link to our Google calendar.

http://entnemdept.ifas.ufl.edu/news/2010-2012/images/divider.jpgUF Peace Corps Campus Recruiter Available for Classroom Visits and One-on-one Consultations

Do you know students who may be interested in joining the Peace Corps? UF's Peace Corps campus recruiter, Breton Homewood, is available for classroom visits and one-on-one consultations with potential applicants. He can provide information about Peace Corps countries and programs, guide students through the application process, and conduct mock interviews, among other services. Contact Breton by email (peacecorps@ufic.ufl.edu) or phone (352-294-2267), or visit him in Office #170 in the International Center in the HUB during his office hours (Tuesdays 10:00AM-noon or by appointment). Breton served in the Peace Corps in Paraguay from 2012-2016 as an Agriculture Extension Volunteer.

About this Newsletter

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Dr. Jennifer Gillett-Kaufman is the newsletter editor and does the HTML coding. Issues usually are published by mid-month. Submit items for an issue by the seventh of that month.

We like to share news when it happens using our social media outlets: Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Follow us on these sites for daily updates! When you send news, we will post it on one or more of these sites and again in the monthly newsletter. Please be sure you have permission from people in photographs you submit for publication.

UF-Bugnews-L listserv subscribers receive notices when issues are posted. Our home page has instructions for subscribing and unsubscribing.

Special thanks to Eleanor Phillips and Nancy Sanders, who reviewed the newsletter for errors, and to Jane Medley and Don Wasik, who built the web page design.

Give Back
Want to support the UF Entomology & Nematology Department? Consider making an online gift today! Questions can be directed to Christy Chiarelli at (352) 392-1975 or ccw@ufl.edu.