Author Archives: p-porter
New cockroach publication
“So what did you do at work today dear?” “I helped finish a new factsheet on cockroaches.” OK, so dinner banter with an Extension entomologist spouse often leaves much to be desired. And us bug people are never going to get rich or earn wide praise for our publications. But I like to think that people benefit from products like the new factsheet on Cockroach Biology and Management regardless of how unappealing the subject. Extension publication E-359 is the first major revision of the Texas cockroach factsheet in… Read More →
H.S. Stevens longtime Dallas garden writer
My first year in Extension someone told me about this H.S. Stevens fellow, a super-savvy gardener who used a hypodermic syringe to treat his squash vines with Bt (a natural control agent that controls squash vine borer and other caterpillars), and knew everything there was to know about gardening in the Dallas area. When I finally met H.S., he was pretty much everything I expected. Gravelly voiced, opinionated and sincerely enthusiastic about his job bringing gardening to kids through his Texas Agricultural Extension Service job. H.S. left Extension… Read More →
Tarantulas go a-courting
This has been tarantula week in Dallas. I don’t get too many tarantula calls as a rule; tarantulas are nocturnal homebodies, rarely venturing more than a foot from their burrow…except during mating season. For a short time in the spring (and to some extent in the fall), usually after a rain, male Texas brown tarantulas (Aphonopelma hentzi complex) leave their burrows and hidey-holes in search of–what else?–romance. In some parts of the state dozens of spiders may be seen at once, especially at night along lonely west Texas… Read More →
Putting out the Unwelcome Mat for borers
Since early spring Dr. Charlie Helpert has tirelessly driven the country roads of north Texas, and knocking on doors in the area, in a effort to make Texas trees safer from insect attack. The enemy is the emerald ash borer, and the weapon is an early detection network of traps and volunteers trained to spot this foreign invader that threatens ash trees throughout the eastern U.S. I wrote about this project last year and so far the news has been good. No ash borer yet in Texas. But… Read More →
Poor spiders
Why do spiders get such a bad rap? They include some of the most beautiful and helpful species of arthropods on the planet. They are extremely adaptable, and make this amazing stuff called spider silk. Yet, if we can believe the statistics, a high percentage of people (at least in the US) can’t stand to be near spiders. So why do we hate spiders? Is it their eight legs? OK, well maybe that’s a little creepy (I admit that even liking six-legged insects is an acquired taste). Is… Read More →
A Texas bee with strange bathroom habits
Every now and then I learn about a new quirky insect so interesting that I have to pass it on. This week’s curiosity comes courtesy of Ken Steigman, entomologist and Director of the Lake Lewisville Environmental Learning Area in Lewisville, TX. Ken sent the accompanying image taken by a friend. What caught his eye were the distinct white pellets so neatly placed around the entrance to the mound. According to Dr. John Neff, with the Central Texas Melittological Institute in Austin, the builder of this neat little nest is… Read More →
Invasive crazy ant in Austin area
The tiny crazy ant, known either as the Rasberry crazy ant or the Carribbean crazy ant, is now in the Austin area. See the story from the Austin American Statesmen, for more information. I won’t say much about this except to note that this is thought to be a mostly tropical ant, and the general consensus is that it won’t do as well where winters are cold and humidity is low. Whether it will turn out to be a serious problem in relatively dry Austin, or whether it… Read More →
Butterflies and moths galore
In case you haven’t been paying attention, this spring has been great for butterfly and moth watchers in Texas. A few weeks ago I noted the abundance of armyworm moths, and last week I had several questions about all the butterflies on the wing. This week county extension agents in west Texas reported large numbers of the migratory army cutworm in and around towns. The picture accompanying this article was sent by Rich and Nikki Lefebvre, Master Naturalists in Plano. It shows an impressive number of red admiral… Read More →
New(ish) enemy of Coreopsis
Some of you may be lovers of the spritely flower called Coreopsis. If so, bad news. A tiny leaf-feeding beetle with the tongue-twsting name of Phaedon desotonis has been showing up in occasional outbreaks around the state. I recorded one in Caddo Mills, TX (Hunt Co.) this month two years ago, and blogger Sheryl Smith Rogers reported (and photographed) an infestation last week in her backyard in Blanco Co. (west of Austin). Mike Quinn provides two more links to information on this native pest for those of you who would… Read More →
