This page chronicles the progress and personalities, past and present, of Dr. Held's lab at Auburn University.
lady beetles (ladybirds) are important predators of aphids and especially crape myrtle bark scale (CMBS). I recently captured the larva of a mealybug destroyer, which is white like the scale insects, walking on an infested crape myrtle tree. These immature stages of this mealybug are common and aggressive, mobile predators. If the white blob on your crape myrtle tree moves, it is not CMBS-it's a beneficial!
08/10/2016
I must have missed this one earlier in the spring. There is a group in Brazil that are implicating an insect growth regulator for microcephaly and not Zika. This IGR is put into drinking water for mosquito control in Brazil and is correlated with a few but not all microcephaly cases. Interesting counterpoint, but most of the public health scientists quoted still point to Zika as the cause of microcephaly.
http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=467138913
Did A Pesticide Cause Microcephaly In Brazil? Unlikely, Say Experts A report from doctors in Argentina raises the possibility that a mosquito pesticide could be responsible for an increase in microcephaly in Brazil. But many top scientists strongly disagree.
Dr. Jay McCurdy has a nice article in the 2016 AL Green journal on native areas and Operation Pollinator work in MS. Check it out.
http://www.alabamachaptergcsa.org/al-green/volume-1-2016.html
Volume 1 2016 Alabama Chapter Golf Course Superintendents Association
07/09/2016
05/27/2016
First mole cricket nymph of the year. Likely still too early for peak egg hatch though. https://t.co/DmKG0xYy01
David Held (@held_david) posted a photo on Twitter Get the whole picture - and other photos from David Held
05/20/2016
it must be entomology news Friday. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/tarantula-plane-air-transat-1.3590780
Tarantulas on a plane: Passengers screamed, climbed on seats Catherine Moreau was watching a movie on her iPad on a flight to Montreal when she felt what she thought was a wire brushing against her. When she looked down she saw a giant, furry tarantula climbing up her leg.
05/20/2016
With thousands of trained entomologists in the US and arguably a large portion of those in CA, I find it strange that they could not find a competent person that could give a common name for the insect involved. The 'mystery bug' title suggest to me the reporters are lazy.
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2016/05/20/mysterious-bug-invasion-creeps-out-tracy-family/
Mysterious Bug Invasion Creeps Out Tracy Family Their house is the only one in the small development of Bright Homes, but they say they aren’t the only ones living there.
05/19/2016
https://t.co/ZwR8w8yA51
Trees and small plants droop at night due to lower turgor pressure. Could sap feeding insects make them droop more?
Trees 'sleep' to rest their branches For the first time, trees have been shown to undergo physical changes at night that can be likened to sleep
05/05/2016
Ambrosia beetle grass sticks on crape myrtle in Auburn. About 10-12 attacks in a 2-3 ft section. https://t.co/SNLUdd2qED
David Held (@held_david) posted a photo on Twitter Get the whole picture - and other photos from David Held
04/13/2016
Will Maryland Be The First State To Ban Neonicotinoids https://t.co/SdUl3axfWC This may force Congress to action independent of EPA review.
Maryland Is Poised To Be First State To Ban Neonicotinoids | Greenhouse Grower A bill banning consumer use and retail sales of neonicotinoids has passed the House and Senate in Maryland and is now awaiting governor Larry Hogan's signature. If it becomes law, it will be the first state-level ban on neonicotinoid pesticides, although there are several county and municipal level…
04/12/2016
Ortho to stop using chemicals considered to be harmful to bees https://t.co/5ny4PDjILu via
Ortho to stop using chemicals considered to be harmful to bees Ortho, the insect control product maker, said Tuesday it would begin “to transition away” from using chemicals that are harmful to honey bees and other pollinators, responding to growing pressure from environmental advocates.
04/09/2016
wondering about Peter Price..we can thank him for our understanding why some insects prefer to eat healthy plants. https://t.co/yrckAVbJPe
The Plant Vigor Hypothesis and Herbivore Attack on JSTOR Four sources of evidence are used to support the Plant Vigor Hypothesis that many herbivore species feed preferentially on vigorous plants or plant modules, as ...