NEWSLETTER
04/23/98 Entomology and Nematology News - Vol. 3, No. 7
A University of Florida Publication

CONGRATULATIONS

Dr. Gene Gerberg, Adjunct Professor was elected an Honorary Member of the American Mosquito Control Association at the annual meeting at Reno, Nevada on March 11, 1998. Dr. Gerberg has just completed a World Directory of Arthropod Vector Research and Control Specialists, and is completing a Bibliography on Repellents for Blood-sucking Arthropods.

At the recent annual meeting of the American Mosquito Control Association (AMCA) Dr. David Dame was installed as Vice-President, an office which leads in two years to presidency of the Association. Dr. Dame currently serves as President of the Florida Mosquito Control Association (FMCA) and President-elect of the international Society of Vector Ecology. Each of these scientific associations deals with the biology and control of insects of medical and veterinary importance and the diseases which they and certain vertebrate hosts transmit. In addition to the operational activities of the members of these scientific associations, FMCA and AMCA boast strong training programs designed to ensure quality protection from pest insects and vector-borne diseases.

Drs. James Maruniak and Drion Boucias have been invited to speak at the 6th Symposium on Biological Control (SICONBIOL) to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil May 24 to May 28.

AND THE WINNER IS....

The Entomology and Nematology Student Organization (ENSO) has elected new officers and presented its annual awards. Claudia Riegel has assumed the mantle of the president and Jeryl Gahlhoff has accepted the baton for the vice presidency. Heather Dillon is the new secretary and Deanna Branscome will be the keeper of the coffers, our treasurer. The outgoing officers wish them all the best and hope their experiences as officers will be challenging and rewarding. On April 1, during the Graduate Student Appreciation Breakfast, Dr. James Nation was announced as the ENSO Teacher of the Year, and Debbie Hall was named ENSO Advisor of the Year in recognition for their continued dedication to students.

Dini Miller was named the Outstanding Graduate Student for 1997-1998 by the Florida Chapter of Alpha Zeta at the UF/IFAS Scholarship and Leadership convocation on March 27, 1998. Alpha Zeta is a professional fraternity in IFAS which honors scholarship, leadership and leadership.

Juan A. Villanueva-Jimenez defended his dissertation on March 29. The title of his dissertation is: "Development of an integrated pest management program for the citrus leafminer (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae) in Florida nurseries." At the end of May he will return to Mexico to take a Teaching/Research position at the Colegio de Postgraduados, Campus Veracruz, a Graduate level institution in agriculture. He will be receiving e-mails at juan_avj@hotmail.com and can be reached through standard mail at: Apdo. Postal 421, Veracruz, Ver. 91700. MEXICO.

Denise Johanowicz, currently conducting postdoctoral research with Dr. Everett Mitchell (USDA) on biological control of pests of vegetable crops, was selected as this year's recipient of the Graduate Research Award from the University of Florida Chapter of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society.

Dina Richman was elected Graduate Student Council President on April 16, 1998. In addition to her duties as president, Dina will be a student member of the Graduate Coordinators Advisory Board (GCAC).

This year's Graduate Student Forum was the biggest yet (143 abstracts, 300 people in attendance). Congratulations to the following students for their presentations in the forum: Agricultural Sciences Papers: 1st--Alonso Suazo 2nd--Jennifer Anderson Agricultural Sciences Posters: 1st--Yasmin Cardoza 3rd--Douglas Burkett Fahiem El-borai, Billy Crow, Clay Scherer, Deanna Branscombe, and Juan Villanueva-Jimenez also made presentations. Special thanks is extended to Drs. A. C. Tarjan, Jerry Butler, Glenn Hall, John Zenger, and Carlyle Brewster who volunteered their time as judges.

Jennifer Anderson, a M.S. student with Dr. Jim Maruniak has been inducted into the Spring class of the prestigious and highly publicized Florida Blue Key Leadership Honorary.

Mary Donohue, an entomology undergraduate, has been officially accepted into the graduate program for entrance in the fall of 1998. She will continue to work with Dr. Jim Tumlinson at the USDA.

From the Teacher of the Year

I would like to express again my gratitude to ENSO members for awarding me the Teacher of the Year honor for 1997-98. Entomology and Nematology is fortunate to have many teachers who like to teach and who work hard at doing a good job. All of us are pleased when our efforts are recognized, and I urge all students to let your teachers, mentors, scientific advisors, and staff assistants know that you appreciate their efforts. I expect you do that already, but because of the pressures, time constraints, and deadlines we all face almost daily, we all forget to say thanks sometimes. I take this opportunity to thank Entomology and Nematology students for being interesting, stimulating, and fun to teach. - Best wishes, Jim Nation.

Course Announcement

Summer B - Drs. Jim and Ale Maruniak will be offering a hands on laboratory course "Molecular Biology Techniques" for a maximum of 8 students. This course is offered every other year and targets Entomology and Nematology students interested in learning and applying molecular techniques for their own research. If interested contact the instructors.

PUBLICATIONS

Loyce Okedi published an article in the Argricultural Research and Training Project -Uganda /Cornell University newsletter entitled "Insects, Florida and Me". This article describes her professional development gained so far in Gainesville. Copies of the newsletter have been placed on the ENSO bulletin board for everyone to read.

Jason M. Squitier. (April 1998). Deer fly, yellow fly and horse fly, Chrysops, Diachlorus, and Tabanus spp. UF/IFAS Featured Creatures. EENY-28.

UFBIR

The 1998 edition of the University of Florida Book of Insect Records will be published on the Internet within a few days. There will be 10 new chapters joining the 28 chapters from previous editions. The new chapters and their authors are: 29 Greatest Bioluminescence, Hazel C. Levy; 30 Heaviest, Thomas E. Powell 31; Largest Blood Meal, K. E. McKenzie; 32 Largest Lepidopteran Wing Span, Hugo L. Kons, Jr; 33 Longest, Deanna Branscome; 34 Longest Adult Life, Ramazan Cetintas; 35 Longest Regularly Repeated Migration, J. Akers Pence; 36 Most Polyandrous, Hector Cabrera-Mireles; 37 Shortest Reproductive Life, Craig H. Welch; 38 Smallest Adult, Jerry E. Gahlhoff, Jr.

UFBIR has been published since 1994. Most of the chapters have been contributed by graduate students in Insect Ecology, ENY 6203, but graduate students from University of Bergen, Norway, submitted the chapters on highest and lowest lifetime fecundities. All that is required of contributors of chapters is good scholarship and a willingness to augment or improve the content of the Book of Insect Records. Dr. Walker invites everyone to pick a category and write a chapter.

COMPUTER BYTES

Two Mediterranean fruit flies were found in Miami Springs, Florida. The Information currently available is posted on the UF/IFAS Pest Alert WWW site. Links to UF/IFAS publications on Medfly are also available at this location. Norm Nesheim, UF/IFAS Pesticide Coordinator, has added two files to the Pest Alert site listing the answers to frequently asked questions concerning malathion. These files are useful to answer questions from residents and organizations about the ground application of malathion bait in the area surrounding the two recent Medfly discoveries. Philip Koehler, urban entomologist for the University of Florida, has posted a review of the current termite baits on UF's Pest Alert WWW site. The review covers the baits now available and how they work.

The departments School IPM WWW site is growing by leaps and bounds. Files added over the last few weeks includes IPM for rodents, lawn pests, landscape pests, and cockroaches, plus other pesticide usage files. Plus a file under Educational Pesentations lists five video tapes on School IPM available from Texas A&M. You can also sign onto the School IPM ListServer at the above site to receive information on new additions.

Woodybug

Last month's newsletter mentioned WoodyBug, a CD knowledgebase of pest and beneficial arthropods of woody ornamentals. It was thought that the CD would be available when the newsletter was released, but that was not the case. Several readers asked Tom Fasulo when it would be on sale and he reports it is now available.

IN LIGHTER NEWS

Where in the world are we?

While answers may differ among members of the department, here is something we can all agree upon: The department has a new street address. It is no longer correct to address correspondence to "Building 970, Hull Road." It should now be addressed to "Building 970, Natural Area Drive."

The other white meat

During the Gator Encounter recently held at IFAS for prospective agricultural students, entomology and nematology faculty and students led tours of the department. One of the tour guides, Tom Fasulo, discussed insects as food and in food with one of the groups, but several ninth grade co-eds in the group found the topic unpleasant. Tom changed topics and everything was OK until he took the group to a nematode lab where graduate student Janete Brito discussed nematodes in our environment. Janete showed examples of nematodes in animals including sardines and other fish, beef cattle, dogs, cats, and even humans. As her audience was becoming more squeamish, Janete looked through her box of samples, pulled out a bottle with more large nematodes and asked, "Anyone here eat pork?" One of the co-eds quickly responded, "Not anymore!"

London Calling

Elke Fulton recently spoke with one of Dr. Dunn's former graduate students, Georgina Robinson (Sydenham) from the UK. She wants all her friends and former colleagues to know that she is doing fine in her home in Reading, UK, that she is teaching biological sciences to the most challenging part of the British society, (no, not the monarchy) the teenagers, and that she never ever worked so hard before. She wishes everyone well and invites anyone traveling to England to "Give her a ring."


The next newsletter will be published Thursday, May 21. Deadline for contributions is Monday, May 18.

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

Hardcopy Editor: Tim McCoy


April 1998. Updated March 2003.