Thursday, February 29, 2024

Arthro-Pod EP 154: Talking Scale Insects with Scott Schneider

Howdy bug lovers! Scale insects are simultaneously fascinating and sort of uninteresting. They are notoriously immobile for much of their life, making them the insect of equivalent of couch potatoes. But, with that comes intriguing questions about how they live, thrive, and survive. Today, Mike is flying solo to interview Scott Schneider all about this particular group of true bugs! Tune in!


Scott Schneider, scale expert extraordinaire and our interviewee for this episode.

 

Scott hard at work in the field.

Hard scales on the underside of a leaf. Note the hard covering ("test") that covers the insects and the diversity of sizes and life stages.

Pine needle scales (Chionaspis pinifoliae) are another kind of hard scale and show some of the diversity in test shape and color between hard scale species.

 

 

Soft scale on a Rubus. Note how the waxy covering appears softer than that of hard scales.

 

 Lac scales, from which products like shellac are produced.


Xenococcid scale insect that is associated with Acropyga ants. 

 

Acropyga queen holding a xenococcid scale in her mandibles before her nuptial flight. Photo by Jonghyun Park via iNaturalist, used under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license.



Acropyga worker moving a xenococcid scale. Photo by Jonghyun Park via iNaturalist, used under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license.

 

All photographs by Scott Schneider and used with permission unless otherwise noted.

 

Show notes

Sodano et al. 2024. Scale insect (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha) morphology is transformed under trophobiosis.  Annals of the Entomological Society of America 117(1): 49–63, https://doi.org/10.1093/aesa/saad033

Schneider et al. 2018. Molecular phylogenetics of Aspidiotini armored scale insects (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) reveals rampant paraphyly, curious species radiations, and multiple origins of association with Melissotarsus ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 129: 291-303. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2018.09.003


Questions? Comments? 

Follow the show on Twitter @Arthro_Podshow

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


Get the show through Apple PodcastSpotify, or your favorite podcatching app!
If you can spare a moment, we appreciate when you subscribe to the show on those apps or when you take time to leave a review!


Subscribe to our feed on Feedburner!  

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Arthro-Pod EP 153 Turkestan Cockroaches with Dr. Andrew Sutherland

Hello bug lovers and welcome to a roach filled Valentine's edition of Artho-Pod! Jody and Jonathan meet up with Dr. Andrew Sutherland of University of California Extension. Andrew is an urban entomologist and an area IPM advisor for UC who serves the San Francisco area. As for today's topic, the Turkestan cockroach is an intriguing invasive species that is competing with other roaches, such as the oriental roach, for space. Due to a variety of factors, the Turkestan roach seems to be spreading and is also being noticed by people in the western US. All of that adds up to an interesting podcast episode filled with cockroach facts, thoughts on how the Turkestan roach is spreading, and possible management strategies. 

Love is in the air

Our guest, Dr. Sutherland

                                                        

Show Notes

Green Bulletin
Pest World Magazine
Pest Notes




Scientific Papers:
Paper by Kim & Rust

Questions? Comments? 

Follow the show on Twitter @Arthro_Podshow

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


Get the show through Apple PodcastSpotify, or your favorite podcatching app!
If you can spare a moment, we appreciate when you subscribe to the show on those apps or when you take time to leave a review!


Subscribe to our feed on Feedburner!  






Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Arthro-Pod EP 152: Artificial Intelligence, Entomology, and Extension

 

Hello bug lovers and our new machine overlords and welcome to a new episode of Arthro-Pod. Today, Jody, Jon, and Mike, decide to swerve a bit out of their lane and discuss their thoughts about artificial intelligence, specifically the intersection of AI and entomology/Extension. There is a lot of clamor over what AI means for the future and what it means ethically. Extension is one area of the academy that seems like AI may have a profound impact on. The gang tries to slice through the hype and share their feelings as well as some reporting on artificial intelligence. Tune in to hear more and share your thoughts with the crew as well!


Show Notes

https://entomologytoday.org/2023/09/14/systematic-entomology-artificial-intelligence/


https://futurism.com/sports-illustrated-ai-generated-writers


https://extension.org/2019/04/23/using-artificial-intelligence-to-support-extension-services/


https://extension.org/tools/extbot/


https://agrilinks.org/post/revolutionizing-extension-models-artificial-intelligence-service-smallholder-farmers


https://www.ifpri.org/blog/can-we-trust-ai-generate-agricultural-extension-advisories


 Questions? Comments? 

Follow the show on Twitter @Arthro_Podshow

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


Get the show through Apple PodcastSpotify, or your favorite podcatching app!
If you can spare a moment, we appreciate when you subscribe to the show on those apps or when you take time to leave a review!


Subscribe to our feed on Feedburner!  



Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Arthro-Pod EP 151: Delusory parasitosis and entomology

 Hello friends, and welcome back to Arthro-Pod! Today's episode is a look at a phenomenon many entomologists will encounter, even if they aren't ready to, known as delusory parasitosis. Also referred to as delusions of infestation and Ekbom's syndrome, this situation involves a person believing that their body and home are infested with some sort of biting or stinging pest, despite there being no evidence that is true. We're all predisposed to interpret certain signals as being caused by an insect or mite trying to crawl on us or bite us and unfortunately, sometimes this can further manifest as delusory parasitosis. Sufferers are often desperate for help and entomologists are often helpless to provide assistance. Today we wanted to outline some of the background of delusory parasitosis and talk about how entomologists can help, while also protecting themselves. 



Show Notes

Hinkle, N.C. 2000. Delusory parasitosis. American Entomologist 46(1): 17–25

https://academic.oup.com/ae/article/46/1/17/2389588


Hinkle, N.C. 2010. Ekbom Syndrome: the challenge of “invisible bug” infestations. Annual Review of Entomology 55: 77–94. Doi: 10.1146/annurev.ento.54.110807.090514


Hinkle, N.C. 2011. Ekbom Syndrome: a delusional condition of “bugs in the skin”. Current Psychiatry Reports 13: 178–186.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21344286/

 

Szepietowski, J.C., Salomon, J., Hrehorów, E., Pacan, P., Zalewska, A., and Sysa-JÈ©drzejowska, A. 2007. Delusional parasitosis in dermatological practice. Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology & Venereology 21(4): 462–465.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17373971/


 Questions? Comments? 

Follow the show on Twitter @Arthro_Podshow

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


Get the show through Apple PodcastSpotify, or your favorite podcatching app!
If you can spare a moment, we appreciate when you subscribe to the show on those apps or when you take time to leave a review!


Subscribe to our feed on Feedburner!  


Saturday, December 30, 2023

Arthro-Pod EP 150 2023 Arthropod News Roundup

 

Hello bug lovers! We hope you have had a wonderful 2023 and are looking forward to 2024. To wrap our season for the year, we wanted to do something fun and make a bit of a news round up focused on arthropods (and some adjacent critters) and see what people were saying about our creepy crawly friends. We'll go from worm rain all the way through malaria and how to kill wasps with gas! We hope you'll tune in and that you'll join us again next year. 


Mormon crickets are just one newsworthy insect from 2023

Show notes 

Worm rain

https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL1N35P20W/

Yellow legged hornets

https://www.wtoc.com/2023/12/28/yellow-legged-hornet-arrives-2023/

Mormon crickets

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/crushed-crickets-are-blanketing-nevada-roads-with-slime-180982415/

Malaria in the US

https://time.com/6291002/locally-acquired-malaria-cases-usa/

Invasives on the move

https://news.yahoo.com/heres-expanded-box-tree-moth-164342473.html

https://news.yahoo.com/heres-expanded-box-tree-moth-164342473.html

Wasps and gasoline

https://www.countryliving.com/home-maintenance/cleaning/a44563522/tiktok-trend-gasoline-wasp-nest-extremely-unsafe/


Questions? Comments? 

Follow the show on Twitter @Arthro_Podshow

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


Get the show through Apple PodcastSpotify, or your favorite podcatching app!
If you can spare a moment, we appreciate when you subscribe to the show on those apps or when you take time to leave a review!


Subscribe to our feed on Feedburner!  


Friday, December 15, 2023

Arthro-Pod 149: The Arthropods of Holiday Folklore

 Welcome back bug lovers and ho ho ho, happy holidays! On today's show we're diving into Christmas trees! When these trees are being grown, there are some pests that might make their way onto the leaves and twigs, so we're talking about their biology and management. However, most of our calls that involve trees are in regard to insects that have been accidentally brought inside with live trees that are now walking all over the presents so we touch on that too. Finally, Jonathan fished up some folklore revolving around arthropods and Christmas. Tune in to hear all about it!

A non-traditional Christmas spider 


Show Notes: 


Christmas tree pests, indoor and out: 

https://www.canr.msu.edu/christmas_trees/pest-management/

https://christmastrees.ces.ncsu.edu/christmastrees-pest-management-in-christmas-trees/

https://extension.psu.edu/insects-on-real-christmas-trees

https://kentuckypestnews.wordpress.com/2023/12/12/does-your-christmas-tree-have-bugs/

Christmas wasp: 

https://fdacsdpi.wordpress.com/2020/12/24/all-about-the-folklore-of-christmas-insects/

http://greydogtales.com/blog/folklore-origins-christmas-wasp/

Christmas spider:

https://agrilife.org/urban-ipm/2018/12/21/the-legend-of-the-christmas-spider/ 





Questions? Comments? 

Follow the show on Twitter @Arthro_Podshow

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


Get the show through Apple PodcastSpotify, or your favorite podcatching app!
If you can spare a moment, we appreciate when you subscribe to the show on those apps or when you take time to leave a review!


Subscribe to our feed on Feedburner!