Category Archives: News
Cirque du Insecte
I’ve been feeling a little guilty about not posting more in the past month, so to make up to my subscribers I thought I’d broadcast a link to this very clever YouTube video posted a couple of days ago by SnapDragon Cell phones. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPwDkVnF-YQ&feature=player_embedded[/youtube] After watching the video I wondered what kind of person gets to come up with these fantasies and make them a reality? Since this is advertising, I assume it wasn’t just done by someone with too much time on their hands. To whoever’s responsible… Read More →
Icky ticks
What could be more icky than finding a tick on yourself, your child or your pet? Now there’s a new web application called “TickApp” that provides quick information about everything you need to know about ticks. Researchers and extension specialists at Texas A&M University developed TickApp as a smart-phone friendly website to provide information about ticks. Anyone with access to the Internet at home or on their smart phone can access it at http://tickapp.tamu.edu. “Ticks are blood-feeding parasites capable of causing irritation, inflammation and infection in animals and… Read More →
Ash borer destroys, Texas deploys
A story in Time magazine last month covered the toll being exacted on American urban forests by the emerald ash borer, the latest in a string of illegal immigrant destructive insects. According to the story, the toll of dead trees will likely surpass those felled by Dutch elm disease by the end of this year, making it the most destructive forest insect ever to invade North America. So what is the threat to Texas forests? Probably not as great as that being experienced in the east-central states where… Read More →
Forget honey bees, worry about Monarchs
Don’t misunderstand me. I like honey bees. And like most people I talk with, I’m aware of the threat to honey bees posed by the latest calamity facing beekeepers, the “colony collapse disorder”. Managed bee colonies in our country and around the world are dying off at alarming rates. And this is not good. But honey bees are not native to the New World. If all the honey bees in the U.S. were to die tomorrow, agriculture would take a devastating hit, and we would see an immediate… Read More →
Honey Bee ID Lab Closed
Since 1990, Texas A&M University’s Honey Bee Identification Lab has provided identification and characterization of honey bees. As of the end of May, the Honey Bee ID lab is closed. According to Paul Jackson, with the Apiary Inspection Service, budget cuts left their department no choice but to end the program. Long-time employee Lisa Bradley was cut as a result. The laboratory provided analysis of honey bee genetics, and for many years had been the authority that documented the incidence and spread of Africanized honey bees spreading… Read More →
Vacationing with bed bugs
If you’re among the millions of American vacationers this summer, you may want to pack a plan for how to avoid bed bugs. Yes, those tiny blood-sucking insects you’ve heard about on the news might just be waiting for you in a hotel or hostel. I admit that I’ve not yet personally stayed in a hotel room with bed bugs (although I know others who have, and I’ve seen evidence of bed bugs in very nice hotels). Most hotels and hotel rooms around the country are bed bug… Read More →
Damselflies of Texas
Any damselfly lovers out there? If you’re not sure what a damselfly is, it’s the dainty cousin of the dragonfly. Anyone who’s sat next to a Texas river or lake has likely been visited by one of these colorful beauties. Now there’s a field guide for Texas damselflies from the University of Texas Press. Called Damselflies of Texas, it is the latest offering from John Abbott, entomology curator at the Texas Natural Science Center, Brackenridge Field Laboratory Insect Collection. John’s one of our premier insect photographers in the… Read More →
Preview of new Disneynature film
If any of you are of the approximate same age as me, you may have grown up watching the Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday nights. My siblings and parents and I always looked forward to the chance to watch Disney animation or movies like Mary Poppins, or highly entertaining nature films. My how things have changed. I would be surprised if a 1960s era Disney production could hold the attention of a media-savvy child of the 2000s. Fortunately, Disney has evolved with the times, and the quality… Read More →
The Mother bug
Sehirus cinctus (see HERE us SINK tuss) is usually an obscure little bug, bothering nobody and noticed by few humans. The past week, however, I’ve received several inquiries about thousands of little black “beetles” (actually bugs) crawling over lawns, driveways and even dogs. Also known as the white-margined burrowing bug, Sehirus cinctus is an example of one of those insects that can go along for years unnoticed, then all of a sudden, BOOM. They’re everywhere. Sehirus is particularly interesting for its behavior. The adults and nymphs feed on… Read More →
Sawfly alert
Pine sawflies resemble caterpillars, but have six or more fleshy prolegs, or “clasping legs” on their abdomen. True caterpillars have five or less clasping legs. I just had a report from urban forester Pam Corder in Kaufman, TX. She reports an outbreak of sawfly caterpillars on pine trees in Kaufman County. Two years ago there was another outbreak of sawflies in Kaufman and several other counties just east of the Dallas area. That outbreak was identified as Neodiprion taedae linearis, also known as the loblolly pine sawfly. Those… Read More →
