November 2003 Faculty News Room Version of Musical Chairs Dr. Heather McAuslane reports that we Dr. Virendra Gupta, now retired, is moving have 29 applicants for the Insect Toxicology out of his labs and office (3209), but has position. The search committee hopes to temporary use of 3006 for his office. At the report by late December on who will be same time, Dr. Faith Oi will move from invited for interviews. 3206 to Gupta’s old office in 3209. Dr. Tom Sanford (retired) used to be in 3006, but he Post-Doc News now uses 3207 when he is not starring in a local drama production. The new insect Dr. Anand B. Persad, a postdoctoral physiology position, which is currently being scientist in Dr. Marjorie Hoy's laboratory advertised, is assigned 3206 as office space. since August 2001, left for a permanent position with Davey Tree Company in Kent, Ph.D. student Rebecca Baldwin, who Ohio. Dr. Persad has been ordering long teaches ENY 3005 Principles of Entomology, underwear for his sojourn in the frozen north. is moving from 3215 to 3212 and will share After growing up in Trinidad and spending that office with Ph.D. student Pete Coon, over two years in Florida, he and his wife who teaches ENY 3007C Life Science. must now adjust to a temperate climate. The non-tenured toxicologist position, for Dr. Yoshi Hashimoto joined Dr. Pauline which the committee is now reviewing Lawrence’s lab to work on characterization applications, is currently assigned office and expression of genes from the space in 3213. And when insect taxonomist Diachasmimorpha longicaudata Dr. Mark Branham reports for duty next entomopoxvirus (DlEPV). Currently, he is month, his office will be in 2005. This developing a restriction map of the DlEPV requires Dr. Norm Leppla to move from genome. 2005 to 3005. New Teaching Lab Speaking of moving... Plans are for much or all of Dr. Gupta’s insect collection to be Work began on the new teaching lab in late given to the Division of Plant Industry October. As of early November, the internal Florida State Collection of Arthropods walls that separate the three rooms (3117- (FSCA) in Gainesville, as space in that 3118-3119) were coming down. collection becomes available when FSCA 1 assets are moved to the new Lepidoptera Nickerson JC, Bloomcamp CL, Fasulo TR. building under construction. (October 2003). Ghost ant, Tapinoma melanocephalum (Fabricius). UF/IFAS Publications Featured Creatures. EENY-310. http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/urban/ants/ghost_ Dixon WN. (August 2003). Nantucket pine ant.htm tip moth, Rhyacionia frustrana (Comstock). UF/IFAS Featured Creatures. EENY-304. Awards http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/trees/moths/nantu cket_pine_tip_moth.htm Dr. Don Hall reports that Emily Heffernan (M.S.) and Barry Alto (Ph.D.) were selected Halbert SE. (October 2003). Giant by the Departmental Graduate Committee to sweetpotato bug, Spartocera batatas receive the Mulrennan Outstanding Graduate (Fabricius). UF/IFAS Featured Creatures. Student Awards for the 2003-04 academic EENY-305. year. Each of these awards carries a $500 http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/veg/leaf/ cash prize. Emily is working under Dr. spartocera_batatas.htm Thomas Emmel on a lycaenid butterfly-ant mutualism. Barry is working under Dr. Phil Halbert SE, Gill RJ, Nisson JN. (October Lounibos on the effect of Aedes mosquito 2003). Eucalyptus psyllid, Blastopsylla larval competition on vector competence. occidentalis Taylor, and red gum lerp psyllid, Glycaspis brimblecombei Moore. UF/IFAS In October, Pest Control Technology Featured Creatures. EENY-306. (PCT), a national magazine for the urban pest http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/trees/eucalyptus_ management industry, had “40 Under Forty” psyllids.htm as its cover article. The cover also stated, “They’re young. They’re ambitious. They’re Howard FW, Pemberton R, Hamon AB, the future leaders of the pest management Hodges GS, Mannion CM, McLean D, industry.” Two of those featured are Wofford J. (September 2003). La escama departmental alumni: Dan Suiter (Ph.D.) lobata de laca, Paratachardina lobata and Jerry Gahlhoff (M.S.). Suiter is an (Chamberlin). UF/IFAS Featured Creatures. assistant professor in Urban Pest EENY-309. Management at the University of Georgia. http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/orn/scales/lobate_ Gahlhoff is national technical director for lac_sp.htm Texas-based HomeTeam Pest Defense, “...one of the largest and fastest-growing pest Hoy MA, Nguyen R. (October 2003). Citrus management companies in the country,” leafminer parasitoid, Cirrospilus ingenuus according to PCT. Gahan UF/IFAS Featured Creatures. EENY- 312. 2003-2004 Undergraduate http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/beneficial/cirrosp Scholarships ilus_ingenuus.htm Each October, the departmental undergraduate committee accepts 2 applications from our undergraduate majors who they are and how they are progressing for one of nine scholarships. Our department academically. Scholarship opportunities will is fortunate to have been provided sufficient be announced next in August 2004 with an endowed funds to permit us to supplement October 2004 deadline. Please join the the support of deserving undergraduate undergraduate committee in congratulating majors. these worthy recipients. - Carl S. Barfield The undergraduate committee consists of Meetings and Presentations Drs. Carl Barfield (Chair and Undergraduate Coordinator), Heather During October, Dr. Anand B. Persad and McAuslane, Phil Koehler, Bob McSorley, Dr. Lucia Zappala, postdoctoral scientists in student member Rebecca Baldwin, and ex Dr. Hoy's laboratory, attended the national officio member Debbie Hall. The committee Entomological Society of America (ESA) met 31 October 2003 and allocated 11 of our meeting in Cincinnati. Dr. Persad presented a majors scholarships. We are proud to poster on “High-fidelity PCR assay announce the following recipients. Please discriminates between immature Lipolexis visit our departmental Web site to view their oregmae and Lysiphlebus testaceipes within photos and awards. their aphid host” (coauthors were Drs. A. Jeyaprakash and M. Hoy). Dr. Zappala Mulrennan Scholarship: - Rhiannon Lewis presented a talk on “Oviposition behavior and host discrimination by Ageniaspis Creighton Scholarships: Tracy Conklin and citricola, a parasitoid of the citrus leafminer, Christine Lynch Phyllocnistis citrella” (coauthor is Dr. Hoy). Dixon Scholarship: - David Melius If you missed the ESA meeting then you missed the delicious Japanese lunch co- Murphey Memorial Scholarship: Ryan hosted by Dr. Gene Gerberg, Sumitomo Wagoner Chemical and MGK which was attended by a number of our faculty and students. Urban Entomology Scholarship: John Whelan Dr. Pauline O. Lawrence presented a poster “DLEPV homologs of the putative Vaccinia Richardson Scholarships: Jason Stanley G5R and poxvirus NPH1 and rifampicin and Mary VanDerBerg resistance proteins” at the ESA annual meeting. Hetrick Scholarship: Ryan Welch and Erik Shuping Oscar Hernandez (Lawrence Lab) attended a training course (26-29 October 2003) on Davis Memorial Scholarship: Barbara HPLC technique sponsored by Perkin Elmer Bayer-Lopez Corporation in Atlanta, GA. Part of the responsibility of receiving these Kyle Hubbard (Tuskegee University), scholarships is for the recipient to write to Gerard Henry (Santa Fe Community the designated donor to inform the donor of College) and Kathy Rocha (BS, University 3 of Florida) are three Research Experience for is studying the effects of different densities Undergraduates (REU) students working of the leaf beetles on defoliation and fruit with Dr. Pauline Lawrence. They conducted production of tropical soda apple. research on two projects (1) viral proteins from the symbiotic entomopoxvirus (DlEPV) On 28 October, Dr. Julio Medal attended the of the parasitic wasp Diachamimorpha tropical soda apple task force meeting at the longicaudata and PSP24, a virally induced Florida Department of Agriculture and protein in their host, the Caribbean fruit fly Consumer Services- Division of Plant and (2) Developmental stages of Fopius Industry in Gainesville. Medal gave a 20 arisanus, an egg-pupal parasitoid of the minutes presentation on “Gratiana boliviana Oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis. (Chrysomelidae), the first biocontrol agent released in Florida to control tropical soda Mr. Kyle Hubbard prepared a thesis entitled apple.” “PSP24 and viral (DlEPV) proteins in tissues of parasitized Anastrepha suspensa” and was On 3 November, Dr. Susan Webb, UF/IFAS invited to present this research in a student vegetable entomology extension specialist, competition at Tuskegee University, Fall presented an invited talk to entomologists 2003. and plant pathologists at Clemson University. She spoke about her past research on the Ms. Kathy Rocha (Lawrance Lab) presented ecology and management of aphid-vectored a poster “Immature development of Fopius viruses in cucurbits and discussed the results arisanus in the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera of a recent survey of Florida cucurbits for dorsalis” at the ESA annual meeting. insect-vectored plant viruses. Dr. Julio Medal gave an invited lecture at Posters Posted the Universidade Estadual do Centro-Oeste, Iratí campus in Paraná state, Brazil, 23 As a result of discussion at the last faculty October. Medal gave the two hour lecture (in meeting, new posters or other displays placed Portugués) on “An overview of biological around Building 970 can be announced in control of invasive plants worldwide with this newsletter. Please send author(s) and emphasis in the Florida experience” to