Biting Insect & Tick Ecology Lab

09/30/2025

You are being invited to take part in a research study conducted by the University of Kentucky to gather information on pest problems and challenges affecting cattle and cattle owners in Kentucky. This will assist us in providing educational content and directing research initiatives to improve pest control and outcomes for cattle and their owners or managers. We anticipate this survey will take 10 - 15 minutes of your time.

To access the survey, please click on the QR code or use this link: https://uky.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1G3v1QaTKqGhBcO

09/16/2025

KENTUCKY EQUINE OWNERS/MANAGERS — You are being invited to take part in a research study conducted by the University of Kentucky to gather information on pest problems and challenges affecting equines and equine owners in Kentucky. This will assist us in providing educational content and directing research initiatives to improve pest control and outcomes for equines and their owners or managers. We anticipate this survey will take 10-15 minutes of your time.

To access the survey, please use the QR code or this link: https://uky.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_d7nKzixNS4GFnpQ

Dr. Hannah Tiffin, Extension faculty in the Department of Entomology, and Dr. C. Jill Stowe, research faculty in the Department of Agricultural Economics, are in charge of this study. If you have questions about the study, you can contact Hannah Tiffin at (859) 257-1618 or at [email protected].

08/13/2025

The summer has been FLYING by but undergraduate Lily Tynan has been hard at work on UK’s horse farms and at Coolmore America!

🤝In partnership with the USDA, this project is evaluating parasitoid emergence on horse farms. Parasitoids are tiny wasps that specialize and feed on a broad variety of insects and plants, including pests like flies. By harnessing these natural predators, fly numbers can be reduced on horse farms through non-chemical methods. Less flies and less reliance on insecticides, a win-win!

♻️Lily received the Sustainability Fellowship from UK’s Office of Undergraduate Research and is setting out traps at three separate farms to see if there is an already present population of parasitoids. She hopes to use this knowledge to help Kentucky horse owners in controlling their fly populations to benefit horse and human comfort!

🪰 Lily recently wrote an article published by UK's Sustainability office, check it out for more info (and cute pictures of UK's mini-horse herd 😍) - https://wholesumky.org/?p=8576

07/11/2025

Is it just us or did June FLY by?? June kept the BITE Lab busy, continuing field projects, starting new ones, extension talks and program development, and welcoming a new lab member!

👋 Ashley (Ash) Russo joined the lab June 1st to begin her MS degree in entomology. While her thesis work will be focused on pests (particularly ticks) of KY cattle, she jumped right into the many projects going on in the lab… starting with tick checks on UK’s horses her very first day! We’re excited to have Ash join the team!

What all did June enTAIL?

🐴 More tick checks on UKs horse herds. This time including a haflinger (yep that’s a real breed and yep ✨Sparkles✨ is real cute) and a whole crew of mamas with their babies.

🪰 The official start to UK undergraduate Lily Tynan’s project scouting for species of parasitoid wasps that feed on flies around horse farms. She visits with American Pharoah (well, his and his friends’ muck) every week to figure out which predator wasps we have here in KY to improve fly control for our horse farms.

🐮 Tick dragging at horse and cattle pastures. While ticks have been pretty elusive this year, we have found several different species on and around our KY animals. MS student at LMU, Alexis (Lexi) Adams is leading this effort along with testing ticks for antimicrobial resistance in collaborator Dr. Yosra Helmy’s lab this summer. Hopefully the rain and heat let up soon so we can find her some more ticks! (Have you ever heard that before??)

📣 More Extension talks and educational materials developed to help our KY producers with management of ticks, mosquitoes, and flies. Including information on New World Screwworm - a fly with an appetite for living tissue that’s been found on livestock in Mexico, further north than it’s been detected in quite some time.

🐓 Testing bed bugs from poultry facilities for allergen presence. Ash has been learning the ropes from Simona Principato in Dr. Zach DeVries lab. We’ve been fortunate to team up with the DeVries Urban Entomology Lab and industry partners to work on solutions for this reemerging pest.

Stay tuned for intros on BITE lab members coming soon 🎬

Gotta fly, stay cool and bite safe out there!

06/18/2025

The BITE Lab is off to the races! 🐎

May saw the start to the lab’s first field season- only possible with some truly fantasTICK collaborators, students, and colleagues.

🪰 Many fly and tick talks, an important part of the lab’s Extension role at University of KY (UK)

🐴 Tick checks and tick-borne pathogen exposure testing of UK’s equine herds

✈️ A pilot study evaluating tick burden and tick pathogens in free-roaming (and non-free-roaming) horses in Vieques Puerto Rico

🛜 And a statewide webinar for >400 attendees on Alpha-gal syndrome (red meat allergy) and tick bite prevention through UK Extension
🥩 Link: https://youtu.be/tb9A9uWUiXQ?si=Z-TRT2K-6VXt6EWu

From Puerto Rico to Kentucky, and everwhere in between- Remember to do your tick checks!

Stay tuned for June updates, coming soon 🎬

06/18/2025

Do your tick checks, these baby ticks are teeny tiny!

06/18/2025

Worried about red meat allergy (alpha-gal syndrome)? UK Extension teamed up to answer some of the most common questions we hear and provide lifestyle management resources for people and families dealing with this challenging diagnosis, and strategies to reduce risk of tick bites that could lead to this syndrome. If you missed the webinar, don’t get TICKed off, just click below!

Living with Alpha-gal Syndrome shares research-based information from University of Kentucky Extension Specialists for Entomology and Food and Nutrition abou...

06/11/2025

Are you seeing damage in your trees since the cicadas came to town? Something to worry about or not? Dr. Ellen Crocker, University of Kentucky Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, and Dr. Jonathan Larson, University of Kentucky Entomology, joins us on From the Woods Today on 6/11 at 11 a.m. to explain whether or not this is an issue for your forests.

FromTheWoodsToday.com

05/29/2025

Join us tonight (right now!) for a webinar on alpha-gal syndrome, lifestyle management, and tick bite prevention! Link below 👇

The University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension is hosting this webinar with a one-hour presentation for background on this syndrome and information living with and preventing tick bites that can cause this syndrome. We will ALSO have about a half-hour Q/A after the presentation, so be sure to attend to submit questions to our experts.

Many have heard that tick bites can lead to Lyme disease but did you know they can also cause a little-known allergy to red meat and other mammalian byproducts called Alpha-Gal Syndrome? Kentuckians are more at-risk for Alpha-Gal Syndrome (AGS) because the tick that carries the allergy is prevalent....

04/23/2025

🧐Join us on May 29th to learn more about alpha-gal syndrome (red meat allergy), how to protect yourself from it by reducing risk of tick bites, and lifestyle management if you or a loved one has this condition.

Stay tick safe this spring by staying out of brushy "tick risky" areas and taking precautions when you're enjoying our natural areas or taking care of pastured animals!

https://entomology.ca.uky.edu/ef656

In response to rising concerns and increasing numbers of individuals impacted by Alpha-Gal Syndrome, also known as red meat allergy, the University of Kentucky Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment will host a free statewide webinar on May 29.

Alpha-Gal Syndrome is triggered primarily by bites from the lone star tick, which carries the sugar molecule “alpha-gal.” This molecule is linked to serious allergic reactions in some people who consume, or even come into contact with, red meat and other mammalian products. Kentucky ranks among the states with the highest prevalence of this condition, making prevention, awareness and dietary guidance critical for residents across the Commonwealth.

Learn more and register >> https://bit.ly/42ICRrq

08/14/2024

Join us tomorrow 8/14 from 11am-12pm ET to learn how to become mosquito and ticks’ worst nightmare… who said you can’t have it all?? 🦟🙅‍♀️🥾🏕️🌲

***Warning: unfortunately we have no idea what ticks or mosquitoes dream about and cannot guarantee this program will result in nightmares…. 👀👀