Last month, I posted about the potential for greater and more unusual insect activity in tobacco greenhouses due to our warm winter and relatively mild spring.

Spring has become less mild recently, but interesting insects are cropping up in tobacco greenhouses in eastern North Carolina.

Two unusual insect issues appeared recently in Wilson County.

Tobacco splitworm

Distinctive tobacco splitworm mines were found in two tobacco greenhouses in Wilson County recently, along with what appear to be splitworm pupae. Neither of these greenhouses were near potato fields or gardens with potatoes, which are common early season hosts of tobacco splitworm (known as potato tuber moth when feeding on potato).

They were, however, near a weedy area or areas where weeds had recently been killed. Tobacco spitworm will also feed on horsenettle, nightshade, and other related weeds, so it is possible the insects in the greenhouse migrated in from these areas.

Damage was limited, but early splitworm activity in tobacco is of concern because these insects can increase their populations rapidly. This is a scenario where transplant insecticide applications may make sense if damage continues.

Black cutworm

Splitworm damage is relatively easy to diagnose — if you see larvae present nothing else in tobacco looks like their leaf-mining feeding injury.  The second type of injury Norman Harrell noticed was more surprising, and at first, more confusing.

While visiting a tobacco greenhouse out of concern for pythium root rot, Norman and the grower noticed several dead caterpillars in the float bed water.

David Stephan at the NCSU Plant Disease and Insect Clinic confirmed that these larvae were black cutworms, which are occasional post-transplant field pests in tobacco. Upon closer inspection, they found a few trays with plants characteristically cut near the soil line.

It appears the larvae were moving downward in search of a place to pupate and drowned. Damage in this tobacco greenhouse was also limited, but early cutworm activity may translate to the field, so growers should be prepared to scout for damage following transplant.

Cutworm damage typically begins on field edges and moves inward, and injury greater than 10 percent could result in economically significant losses and should trigger treatment. I generally do not recommend preventive treatment for tobacco cutworms , because they are relatively uncommon and preventative treatments have a limited longevity.

I’d love to hear any additional reports of unusual insect activity in tobacco greenhouses and as we move into transplant. Keep your eyes peeled!

By Mark Bulstrode BBC News

Dr Martin Hall analyses insects to help murder investigations

Dr Martin Hall has had to get used to dealing with horrific sights and smells as part of his job.

Yet the type of scene he regularly faces is something he had not considered in his “wildest dreams” when he became fascinated by insects as a child.

After collecting beetles and blowflies while growing up in Zanzibar, east Africa, he went on to study the subject and became a forensic entomologist at London’s Natural History Museum in 1989.

His role involved researching animal diseases and their link to insects. Dead humans were something he had yet to encounter.

‘Completely new world’

But that changed in March 1992 when the skeletal remains of a young woman were found in woodland in Dorset.

Police knew forensic entomology could provide answers more traditional inquiries could not and Dr Hall was called in.

Continue reading the main story

Dr Martin Hall on how a forensic entomologist works

We collect insects from on and around the body.

Many insects disperse when they have finished feeding. Outdoors it can be a few metres, indoors it can be further.

We look for the oldest insect on the body – that gives a very good indication of how long the person has been there.

If a body is outside in the summer, we know it will be found by insects within 24 hours so the age of the insects on the body is important.

We also look for other aspects. Are the insects consistent with that scene? Could the body have been moved there?

There is often a link between where the insects are feeding on the body and the cause of death, a gunshot wound for example.

It’s also possible to trace human DNA, gunshot residues and drug traces from flies that have fed on a dead body.

“It opened up a completely new world which I had never experienced before,” said Dr Hall, 57, who lives in Haywards Heath, West Sussex.

“I suddenly found myself in an environment I had not considered in my wildest dreams.”

Through analysing the age and type of insects and larvae at the scene, Dr Hall was able to provide clues about how long the body had been there.

For police, it gave them a focus for the investigation and a time frame for when the body had been dumped.

Since then the number of inquiries Dr Hall has been involved in has spiralled. He is one of a select band of insect experts called on by detectives.

Police work now takes up nearly half of his week, either analysing samples or developing research.

On average, he deals with between 10 and 20 cases a year.

Some of the investigations Dr Hall has worked on include the deaths of five sex workers in Suffolk in 2006 and the murder of Chantel Taylor, 27, from Birkenhead, Merseyside, in 2004.

One of the most recent cases was the murder of 17-year-old Alisa Dmitrijeva who was found dead on the Queen’s Sandringham Estate on 1 January.

“The first time you do see a dead body is a bit disquieting but I’m relatively comfortable in doing it now,” Dr Hall said.

“Sometimes bodies in houses can be more difficult than dealing with a body in a field.

“When a body is in a field you can turn off your emotions to some extent and view the whole scenario in a perfectly detached way.

“In a house, there are more artefacts and signs of their life around – more clues that this person was a living being not so long ago.”

The 57-year-old can spend anything from hours to a few days at a crime scene.

“You only get one chance to gather the evidence and it’s vital nothing is missed,” he said.

Dr Hall collects samples from crime scenes and analyses them at the Natural History Museum

“You have to think like a maggot. Where would I go if I was a maggot? What would I do?”

Working within the legal system is a process far detached from science.

But Dr Hall, who is now head of research at the museum’s department of entomology, said he had found it “extremely fulfilling”.

“Many people may be beavering away all their lives with research and not see anything productive come from it,” he said.

“For me, it’s great to see an outcome every few months at the end of the criminal case.”

Det Ch Insp Jes Fry, of Norfolk police, said the techniques had helped several inquiries in Norfolk, including the Sandringham murder probe.

“Forensic entomology can give a pretty good estimate of how long a body may have been in situ. Obviously that helps us focus inquiries around last sightings,” he said.

“It can knit it all together. It’s something that has become much more helpful in the past 10 years as it has advanced.”

HUNTSVILLE, AL – State and federal agencies have changed the regulations for mosquito control, but Huntsville officials don’t expect them to bug you this summer.

The new regulations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Alabama Department of Environmental Management require a lot more documentation and testing of areas to make sure the treatments are necessary and killing mosquitoes, said Cheryl Edge Clay, public health environmentalist who works with the city’s Vector Control.

She said the new regulations went into effect in October and won’t interrupt any services for city residents. The regulations required a permit by April 30 for cities that spray over 5,400 acres a year; Vector Control treats more than 128,000 acres in the city.

Richard Grace, the Madison County engineer, said county commissioners are aware of the new regulations from t regulations and making sure they comply. Each county commissioner takes care of his district’s needs for mosquito control outside the city, Grace said.

Clay had to put together a detailed pesticide discharge management plan that describes mosquito problems and what, if any, impact the spraying would have on the environment.

“The biggest change is, there will be a lot more documentation, requirement of data and followup inspections,” Clay said. “This summer we don’t expect to interrupt services with the new monitoring program. Residents can expect the same quality service as we’ve had in the past.

“We may not spray every Monday or Tuesday night. We’re going to spray where we can be most effective.”

Clay said Vector Control will begin using its mosquito fogging trucks — carrying a truck-mounted sprayer that shoots ultra low volume mist, she said — the first week of June. Currently, Vector Control is targeting the mosquitos larvae in swamps and other areas they are known to habitat with biological larvacide, which is much more environmentally friendly.

Clay says the city uses a non-toxic, low concentration chemical when it sprays at night. It also uses a non-toxic spray for the biological larvacide and even uses tiny mosquito fish, which they stock in ditches where mosquitoes are a problem.

Vector Control is asking beekeepers to call the office so the trucks can avoid spraying in their areas.

Clay said it’s not possible to visit every home in the city, so it helps if the public can to minimize areas that hold stagnant water. “Even a teaspoon of water can breed mosquitos,” Clay said.

For more information, go to www.mosquito.org/control.

The city’s Vector Control deals with mosquito control and encourages all residents to minimize areas that can hold stagnant water, such as old tires, bird baths, flower pots, pet water bowls, and poorly maintained fountains, gutters, and swimming pools. If you are a beekeeper in or near Huntsville, call 256-883-5872 so your area can be avoided until after sunset during fogging season.

We have some fairly new insects to contend with – kudzu bugs. I had the first one brought to my office from Wilkes County in 2010. They first showed up in 2009 in Georgia in a nine-county cluster that included Oglethorpe, Clark, Oconee, Jackson, Barrow, Hall, Gwinnett, Walton and DeKalb. The bugs have been spreading every year and now reach into South Carolina, North Carolina and southernmost Virginia. Going West, they have reached a few counties in Alabama. As far as I know, the only areas in Georgia that have not been infested are coastal and extreme south Georgia.

Kudzu bugs came from Asia; scientists think from Japan. They had never been seen in the western hemisphere until the fall 2009, when they showed up in these clusters of Georgia counties.

Kudzu bugs are about 1/6- to ¼-inch long, somewhat oblong in shape, and olive-green with brown speckles. They have a squared-off back end.

These insects get their name because kudzu is their favorite meal. Unfortunately, they don’t stop at kudzu. They will feed on a variety of legumes (soybeans and other bean species as well as wisteria and some vetches).

Not only are they causing a concern for plants, they are a nuisance because they like to come in our houses in the fall.

Kudzu bugs have several generations per year. In the spring, they feed extensively in kudzu patches and on other legume hosts. In July and August, they move into soybeans and feed on stems and foliage, having a significant impact on crop yields. The bugs continue to feed and lay eggs into the fall on kudzu and other hosts.

As the temperature and day length decline, kudzu bugs leave their soybean and kudzu hosts in search of protected sites where they will spend the winter. Overwintering sites are any crack or crevice where a group of bugs congregate. For example, this can be, but is not limited to, the gaps under the bark of trees or under the siding of a home. They seem to like high places as well, such as the edges of homes (fascia boards, gutters). During each of the past three years, this fall flight began around mid-October and did not subside until late November or early December.

When bugs find their way in your home, vacuum them up and make sure you seal all cracks and crevices and make sure window screens are repaired and door sweeps are installed. When bugs congregated on your house, spray them directly with a pyrethroid insecticide. Do not spray indoors.

For any plants in the garden such as peas or beans, any number of insecticides such as carbaryl (Sevin), bifenthrin (Ortho Max Bug-B-Gon), spinosad, or esfenvalerate can be used as kudzu bugs are easily killed. Unfortunately, new kudzu bugs will quickly re-infest plants.

Kudzu bugs have reduced kudzu growth in Georgia by 30-50 percent. The bad news is they are having an impact on Georgia soybean production by reducing yield around 20 percent. There also does not appear to be very many native natural enemies of kudzu bugs. As a result scientists have searched for and identified a parasitoid in Japan. Plans are to import this wasp for biological control purposes. The wasp parasitizes kudzu bug eggs, thus ending their life cycle.

In the heart of Auburn, Ala., researchers have discovered a new species of trapdoor spider right under their feet, they reported Tues., May 8.

Named in honor of Auburn University’s tiger mascot, the spider is now affectionately called the Auburn tiger trapdoor spider or Myrmekiaphila tigris. It belongs to the genus that includes among its now 12 species the famous M. neilyoungi, from Birmingham, Ala.,  named for rocker Neil Young.

“The discovery of a new species in a well-developed area like this further demonstrates the amount of  biodiversity on our planet that remains unknown,” study researcher Jason Bond of the Auburn University Museum of Natural History, said in a statement. “We know so little about our home planet and the other organisms that inhabit it with us.”

Trapdoor spiders are close relatives of  tarantulas and funnel web spiders, and look similar, though they have less hair on their bellies and legs that appear to be polished.

The spiders craft underground burrows that they cover, as their name suggests, with a hinged door, though not all members of the group construct these trap doors.

“Just as orb-weaving spiders make webs out of silk, these more primitive spiders also use silk, but not [for webs],” Norman Platnick of the American Museum of Natural History told LiveScience back in 2008 when he and Bond described the Neil Young spider. “They use it to line burrows, and an extension of the lining is part of the trap door.”

In addition to keeping out pests, the door allows spiders to ambush prey. When an unsuspecting insect or other prey walks across the door, the spider feels the vibrations and lurches from the burrow, pulling its now-bitten victim into its lair.

Until now, scientists had grouped this  trapdoor spider in with the species M. foliata due to superficial similarities. However, after closer examination, Bond and his colleagues found differences in morphology between the two. “The key differences were primarily related to differences in the male genitalia, modifications of the male copulatory device (the pedipalp), often used to distinguish among spider species,” Bond told LiveScience in an email.

Paired with genetic analysis, the researchers now say the two are separate species.

“Despite the physical uniqueness of these specimens, the use of DNA as an alternate, less subjective line of evidence for recognizing the species was warranted, given our excitement with discovering a new species literally in our own backyards,” Bond said.

The spiders are just a few centimeters long, with females being larger and more “robust,” Bond said. Males can be found in relatively large numbers wandering neighborhood sidewalks, in swimming pools and even in home garages between November and December, the researchers noted. That’s when sexually mature males (at ages 5 or 6) emerge from their burrows on  a mission to find a mate.

Females are much more secretive, and longer-lived, spending their 15- to 20-year lives in their burrows, which are often more intricate with side chambers equipped with additional underground trap doors.

The new species is described in the open-access journal ZooKeys.

Parker, owner of Bug Busters USA, and 10 of his friends will be riding bicycles from Canada to Louisiana/Gulf Coast, beginning May 18 and lasting 31 days.

Ride Planning

In 2009, 11 of us rode across the US on the Adventure Cycling Southern Tier route. In late 2010 during a ride in Utah, some of the 2009 group decided to do another cross-country ride – this time from North to South along the MRT. To make it a “true” cross-country we decided to start at the US-Canadian border instead of the Mississippi headwaters.

The majority of the routes and many of the lodging choices for this ride are attributed to the information contained in Bob Robinson’s book “Bicycling Guide to the Mississippi River Trail”. This book is an invaluable resource in planning an MRT ride. There was also quite a bit of useful information in many of their ride journals on this web site. The picture below is when my father took FLAT Stanley from San Diego to Saint Augustine in  2009 for Parker Bertholf (son of Daphne Bertholf).

Ant Control Tips

As of 2006 there are 9,000 to 10,000 known ant species and researchers believe that there may be more than 20,000 species worldwide. With this fact in mind it is no surprise that 25% of homeowners listed ants as their main pest concern according to research conducted in 2005 by the National Pest Management Association.  This same study revealed that more than half of all homeowners have had problems with ants – making them the most prevalent pest nationwide.

Ants are social insects and form highly organized colonies with up to millions of members each having a role. Spotting one ant unfortunately signifies that the troops are somewhere close by.

Homeowners should particularly watch out for fire and carpenter ants. Fire ants, found mainly in the south, are vicious and can sting repeatedly if disturbed. Carpenter ants attack wood that is or has been wet or damaged by mold and can build tunnels through dry, undamaged wood causing costly property damage.

Bug Busters offers the following tips for minimizing invasion by ants:

• Keep wood and debris away from exterior siding
• Keep kitchen clean: seal containers, wipe counters frequently, empty the garbage religiously, and avoid leaving pet food dishes out for long periods of time.
• Eliminate sources of moisture or standing water.
• Keep tree branches and other plants cut back from the house.
• Seal up cracks and small openings along bottom of the house.
• Store sugar, syrup, honey, baked goods, and other sweets in closed containers that have been washed to remove residues from their exterior surfaces.

For more information on other ant species and preventative tips visit

www.pestworld.org and www.bugbustersusa.com

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