Author Archives: p-porter
Spring is a great time for small things
Few would argue that March and April are a great time to get outside to enjoy the weather in Texas, tornadoes notwithstanding. But how many think of spring as great insect-watching weather? Well it is. A multitude of insects break their winter dormancy at the same time as their host plants. This leads to great abundance of interesting subjects for those who have eyes to see. The biggest obstacle to insect watching, I find, is the common inability to “see small”. While there are some impressive large insects–most… Read More →
Grubs in the spring no big thing
As winter ends the good earth beckons. If you need proof, just listen this weekend. Like rattling sabers, you’ll hear gardeners everywhere dragging their spades, mattocks and hoes from storage. It’s an inevitable ritual of spring. Just as inevitably, many gardeners will gasp as their thoughts of seed packets are interrupted by the sight of glistening white grubs in the newly turned soil. White grubs are the immature life stage of the June beetle and its relatives. And as most Texas gardeners know, white grubs are not good. After… Read More →
Sewers and mosquitoes
A recent article in the Journal of Medical Entomology on mosquitoes and sewers caught my eye–yep, I know, most people would skip that one. But the study does shed light on an important public health topic, namely factors that can influence the spread of West Nile virus (WNV) and other mosquito-borne diseases. Allison Garner (University of Illinois-Urbana) and colleagues conducted their study in a Chicago area residential community during the summer of 2010. They looked at mosquito breeding in sewer catch basins over the course of a summer. Sewer… Read More →
Finally. A mild winter pest emerges?
Whenever there’s a slightly unusual weather pattern I can predict the calls. “So what’s the mild weather going to do to the pests?” “Did the cold snap in January kill all the bugs?” “Will all this rain mean more insects?” The truth is that most Texas insects are pretty well adapted to our coldest weather, and also darned difficult to predict. Sometimes entomologists will venture a guess for a reporter, and might even be right more often than not. I’ve learned, however, to be a little more circumspect in… Read More →
An inspiration to all survivors
Are you a survivor? Then maybe you can relate to the story of the Lord Howe stick insect, Dryococelus australis–at was 12 centimeters long, the heaviest stick insect in the world. It had been as presumed extinct until 2001 when two VERY COMMITTED Australian biologists followed a hunch and climbed up 500 feet in the dark with flashlights to have a look. The story, published in an NPR blog is inspiring and offers a glimmer of hope for anyone who marvels in the diversity of life. In an age when insect… Read More →
Using pyrethroid insecticides safely
Ten years ago the most common lawn and garden insecticides for consumers contained the active ingredients diazinon and chlorpyrifos (Dursban). These insecticides were popular because of their relatively quick kill, effectiveness against a wide range of pests, and ability to keep killing for several days to weeks or months. Today those older products have been completely replaced with a group of insecticides known as pyrethroids. Pyrethroids were judged to be safer both to people and the environment, however recent research has turned up some problems with pyrethroid use… Read More →
Superbowl insect ad
I may be one of the few Americans who didn’t see this ad when it came out during the Superbowl (I missed the first half), but since one of our pest management agents forwarded it this week, I am now up-to-speed. The animation on the ad is impressive, and the artists obviously did their homework in designing their lovable bugs. I identified a caterpillar, bumble bee, ants, two kinds of grasshopper, lady beetles, a praying mantis, dragonfly, and (the star of the lineup, in my opinion) a jumping… Read More →
Would you want your child to be an entomologist?
None of my children showed the slightest interest in being an entomologist when they grew up. In some ways I don’t blame them. I know very few rich or famous entomologists. You probably won’t be asked to sit on a bank board, or have a hospital wing named after you. But entomology does have its benefits as seen in a new brochure published today by the Entomological Society of America. I remember that when I informed my father that I had decided that I wanted to become an… Read More →
New information on rose rosette
Last July I posted a story about rose rosette disease, which seemed to be on the rise during the summer. A recent update to the scientific understanding has been posted by Oklahoma State University that supports the theory that RR is a virus-caused disease and preserves the notion that eriophyiid mites may be a prime force behind disease spread. I’m not enough of a virologist to judge the strength of the research, but the story provides a little bit of insight into how scientific knowledge advances. New knowledge… Read More →
A new threat to honey bees?
The domesticated honey bee’s life is anything but easy. Enslaved by humans to produce honey (for which their hives are regularly raided), uprooted to lead a nomadic life traveling on flatbed trucks from field to orchard, worked year-round, attacked by various mites, fungi and now exotic viruses, is it any wonder that some bees are collapsing from the sheer weight of it all? This accumulation of multiple stresses is, in fact, the current best guess by bee researchers on what is causing the much dreaded “colony collapse disorder”,… Read More →
