On this page the following entries were made in the “Entomology” category. Check out other categories in our Archives.
Bug Blog Archives for “Entomology”
Can Pests Become Resistant to Natural Enemies?
Arthropod Pest and Natural Enemy Interactions: Can Pests Become Resistant to Natural Enemies?
Biological control is a well-known pest management strategy available to greenhouse managers to “manage” or “regulate” arthropod (insect and mite) pests. As opposed to discussing the basic concepts of biological control and why it is important to implement some type of biological control, this article will focus on the arthropod pest-natural enemy interactions and characteristics of arthropod pests.
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Where Have the Lost Beetles Gone?
If you would like to get involved, more information about the project, plus tips on scouting, photographing beetles, and quite a bit more, is available […]
In a September 18th, 2008 Agricultural Research Service (ARS) news posting titled “ARS Scientists and Cooperators Surveying for Rare Ladybugs” we have learned that a few once-common ladybug species are no longer being found in the numbers reported just twenty years ago. Here’s a section quoted directly from the article:
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Covering Some Entomology Basics
As some of you may or may not know, I am a contributing photographer at iStockphoto.com, a stock photography site. There approved contributing photographers upload inspected photos for sale to publishers, webmasters, or whoever needs them. To locate the photos they need, these buyers search the 3 million plus image library for a “Best Match” or other criterion based on keywords and phrases. These keywords, for the sake of clearer disambiguation, are mapped to preselected words or phrases. In other words, if I add the keyword “safe,” the system will ask if I mean safe as in safety, or safe as in a hardened box. The system works, though I was recently reminded that it isn’t perfect.
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The Grand Tick Hunt
Last week Massachusetts entomologist and respected tick guru David Simser, PhD, came to visit. He was on a mission: To collect deer ticks (Ixodes scapularis) in predetermined New Hampshire locations and count his catches. Two of these collections/counts were taken right here in Nottingham, NH.
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Three Types of Predatory Mites
Based on the information in this article, one might be able to better choose a predatory mite what with knowing their expected behaviors.
There was an interesting article titled “Understanding Predatory Mites: Keys To Successful Biocontrol” in the Association of Educational and Research Greenhouse Curators (AERGC) Fall, 2007 newsletter written by Kansas State University (KSU) entomologist and AERGC member Dr. Raymond A. Cloyd. The article covered the basics, describing biocontrol in general, then it delved into the use of predatory mites explaining how an understanding of their individual characteristics is key to using them successfully — especially when understanding leads to strategic multi-species implementations.
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Red Ladybug, Black Ladybug
Ladybugs are insects, and this means they undergo a complete metamorphosis: hatching from eggs into larvae, then transforming into pupae, and finally emerging as adult beetles. When they first emerge from their snug pupal cocoons, they look like ladybugs in shape and size, but their coloration isn’t yet set; they will typically be a pale orange-yellow or a grayish color. You see, when they first emerge their wing covers, also known as eletra — their shells or modified wing covers if you will — are wet and quite soft. It’s nothing a few hours in the sun won’t fix, though.
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