Dr. Capinera received the Gamma Sigma Delta "Distinguished Leadership Award of Merit" at the GSD banquet March 26.

The insect photo salon at the 73rd Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Branch of the Entomological Society of America in Destin was dominated by the University of Florida.  Michael Patnaude took first and third place and Jason Squitier received second place.

Dr. James Cuda attended the 73rd Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Branch of the Entomological Society of America in Destin. He provided a summary of his research activities to the subcommit. Cuda also presented the paper, "Biology of the Phytophagous Midge Cricotopus sp. (Diptera: Chironomidae), a Natural Enemy of the Aquatic Weed Hydrilla, Hydrilla verticillata (Hydrocharitaceae). The paper was co-authored by Byron "Pete" Coon and Judy Gillmore.

Dr. James Cuda was invited to present a paper at a Research and Extension Conference hosted by the IFAS Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants on 9-10 March.  While Cuda was in Brazil, one of the co-author, Pete Coon, presented the paper, "Potential for Biological Control of the Aquatic Weed Hydrilla by Cricotopus lebetis (Diptera: Chironomidae), a Stem Tip Mining Midge New to Florida."
 
Drs. James Cuda, Julio Medal and Dale Habeck travelled to Curitiba, Brazil during the week of March 7th.  The purpose of the trip was to coordinate biological control research activities with cooperating scientists and collect natural enemies of Brazilian peppertree and tropical soda apple for quarantine screening studies.

Michael Patnaude gave a presentation at the Southeastern Branch of the Entomological Society of America titled "Geographic information system application for mosquito control".

Gainesville welcomes a new resident scientific illustrator, Susan Trammell, from Philadelphia. Susan has expertise drawing insects, nematodes and other subjects. She can work from specimens under the microscope, and renders in either pen and ink or carbon dust.

For information about Susan's past work, please contact Drs. Jon Gelhaus or Dan Otte, Academy of Natural Sciences, or Drs. Gerhard Schad or Francis Ashton, University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine.

Jane Medley has some brochures and samples of Susan's work in Rm. 1023. You can contact Susan at (352) 466-3915.
 

Classical Biological Control from Mexico

As part of a project on the biological control of the pepper weevil, Anthonomus eugenii Cano, Dr. Phil Stansly from the SWREC at Immokalee and Marco Toapanta spent five days in the state of Nayarit, Mexico searching for parasitoids of this weevil.  Dr. Stansly and Marco collected large amounts of pepper fruits from several varieties which were heavily infested with the pepper weevils in semi-abandoned and abandoned commercial fields. They are interested in finding Triapis sp., a braconid wasp which has been reported to have high levels of parasitism in Mexico.  All the material collected were returned to the quarantine facilities at DPI. Dr. D. Schuster from the GCREC at Bradenton provided support and help for the success of this project.

Who is that large, bearded man we have recently seen scurrying around the department.  As many of you already know from years of collaboration, he is Dr. Norm Leppla.  He served on our adjunct faculty from 1972 until 1988, when he transferred to Weslaco, Texas to build the USDA, ARS Biological Control of Pests Research Laboratory and subsequently to the Washington DC area to provide administration for the USDA, APHIS Methods Development Laboratories and establish the National Biological Control Institute.

For the past two years, Norm has been helping to build a consolidated Central Florida Research and Education Center, as its director.  His primary science and technology passions are insect colonization and rearing, and augmentation biological control. Consequently, his assignment in the department will emphasize the implementation of augmentation biological control in integrated pest management for selected crops in Florida.  Ornamental plant and vegetable production in protected culture are the highest priorities.  Please stop by his office in Room 2005 to say hello, as he would like to become more involved with faculty members and students in the department.  He and his wife, Carol, currently live in Mt. Dora and are in the process of establishing a residence in Gainesville.

Kern, W.H., D.L. Richman, P.G. Koehler, and R.J. Brenner. 1999. Outdoor survival and development of immature cat fleas (Siphonaptera: Pulicidae) in Florida. Journal of Medical Entomology. 36 (2): 207 - 211

WoodyBug is a  knowledgebase that covers disease, insect, mite and nematode pests of woody ornamentals of the southeast United States. WoodyBug currently contains information only on insects and mites. 

The insect and mite pest species are listed under the following major categories: aphids, boring insects, chewing insects, insect galls, lace bugs, leafminers, scales, mites, thrips and whiteflies.

WoodyBug also contains extensive Integrated Pest Management information for insects and mites that covers such topics as host plant resistance, biorationals, biologically compatible pesticides, scouting, monitoring and beneficial organisms. Included are over 200 color photographs on pests, plant damage and beneficial arthropods.  Click on the IPM symbol for section.

As information is added to this WWW site, messages will be sent to all WoodyPest List Server subscribers.  The WoodyPest List Server is also meant to be a discussion forum for persons interested in IPM for woody ornamentals  Instructions for subscribing to this new list server are available at the WoodyBug WWW site at http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/fasulo/woodypest/.

Featured Creatures

http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/

Capinera, J.L., (March, 1999). Squash bug Anasa tristis (DeGeer). UF/IFAS Featured Creatures. EENY-77.

There is an entomology blood drive at 1 - 4 P.M. on Friday, April 2. Recognition T-shirts will be given to all donors.

Well, you can't win them all.  Team captain Mary Donohue, Richard Pluke, Clint McFarland, Philip Lake and Michael Patnaude were able to beat Clemson University but lost to University of Tennessee by one question.  University of Arkansas took the trophy at the Southeastern Branch of the Entomological Society of America.

SEEP dedication. The Wetlands Club, which has led the development of NATL's Stormwater Ecological Enhancement Project (SEEP), will dedicate the project and host a community tree planting on Saturday, April 17.  The dedication will take place in the park-like area north of SEEP. Refreshments will be provided.

12:30 Tours of Natural Area Teaching Laboratory (meet at the kiosk)
2:00 Opening Statements and SEEP History
2:10 Acknowledgement of Funding and Participants
2:20 Planting of Dedication Trees
2:45 Community Tree Planting
5:00 Closing

Successful burn. On March 16, Alan Long, the Austin Cary burn crew, and numerous volunteers burned NATL's upland pine from Regency Oaks to Gasline Trail. Plans to burn from Gasline Trail to the DPI compound had to be canceled when temperatures rose and the humidity dropped. If we have a good rain followed by a cold front, more burning is still possible this spring.

Berm contract let. Site-Tech Construction, the firm that re-contoured the retention pond, was low bidder on the 34th Street berm: $17,000 to build the berm, $2,000 to mulch and seed it with Bahiagrass. The firm will also build crosstie barriers to protect a 12-inch longleaf pine and a 20-inch southern red oak from encroachment by the berm. Construction will start in about a month and take about a week.

Soils plan. John Galbraith and Mary Collins of the Soil & Water Science Department have proposed  a "Soil Resources Inventory Plan" that will make NATL a major resource for learning about soils.  The plan includes establishing groundwater monitoring wells, permanent pits to reveal soil profiles, and a GIS system.  The Natural Area Advisory Committee will consider the plan and its implications at its next meeting.

Due to the requests Michael Patnaude has received, he has decided to start teaching a group of people how to use geographic information systems (GIS). Those interested should contact Mike for more details. First meeting will be at 3 P.M. on Monday May 10. Future meeting times will be determined by those attending.

Turn off any signature file, if you have one. You will receive instructions for confirming your subscription and further information on the rules for the list server.

Editor: Michael Patnaude

This version of the newsletter is prepared for the Web by Kathryn Jones.

March 1999. Updated May 2003.