Arthro-Pod EP 99: Spinetingling Tales of Parasitic Flies with Dr. Erica McAlister

Welcome to our annual spooktacular! We like to try and find a topic every year that will fit the Halloween season and we are honored that Dr. Erica McAlister, senior curator at the Natural History Museum in London, could join us for a recording session. Her book “The Secret Life of Flies” is one of the top sellers in entomology on Amazon and she was the keynote speaker at ESA in 2019. We cover Chapter 9 of her book which is focused on parasitic flies! Tune in for Dipteran appreciation, body horror, and most importantly, bot flies!

Show notes: 

Check out "The Secret Life of Flies" to read along with us for this episode! 

You can find Erica on twitter @flygirlNHM

or read about her work with the NHM here

A horse bot fly by 

Sturgis McKeever, Georgia Southern University, Bugwood.org 

Questions? Comments? 

Follow the show on Twitter @Arthro_Podshow

Follow the hosts on Twitter @bugmanjon, @JodyBugsmeUNL, and @MSkvarla36

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This episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Beginning/ending theme: "There It Is" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Arthro-Pod EP 98: Spotted Lanternfly Summer

 This summer, the invasive spotted lanternfly (SLF) was in the news multiple times after being found in Indiana, in a new Ohio location, and in a 4-H insect collection from Kansas. So, the Arthro-Pod gang decided to sit down and talk about this beautiful yet devastating insect. 

Tune in to learn about the biology and development of SLF, how the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has combated it for the last few years, and the damage to crops and property that can be expected from SLF. 

A beauty and a beast, SLF impacts numerous crops by sucking the life out of them with its piercing-sucking mouthparts. Photo by Lawrence Barringer, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, Bugwood.org. 

Show notes

• USDA Where is the threat and where to report https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/resources/pests-diseases/hungry-pests/slf/spotted-lanternfly
• Up to date maps of SLF infestation: https://nysipm.cornell.edu/environment/invasive-species-exotic-pests/spotted-lanternfly/spotted-lanternfly-ipm/introduction-native-range-and-current-range-us/ 
• Map of potential distribution in US: https://entomologytoday.org/2019/10/03/invasive-spotted-lanternfly-large-potential-range-united-states-beyond/. There is also a map of potential worldwide range.
• ESA collection of research
  https://www.entsoc.org/spotted-lanternfly-research-accelerates-effort-contain-invasive-pest

The life cycle of SLF, courtesy of the PA Department of Agriculture 

Questions? Comments? 

Follow the show on Twitter @Arthro_Podshow

Follow the hosts on Twitter @bugmanjon, @JodyBugsmeUNL, and @MSkvarla36

Get the show through Apple Podcast, Spotify, or your favorite podcatching app!

Subscribe to our feed on Feedburner!  

We're also on Stitcher!

This episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Beginning/ending theme: "There It Is" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0