Arthro-Pod EP 133: How to get your online MS in Entomology with Erin Bauer

Join the Arthro-Pod gang as they meet up with Erin Bauer of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Department of Entomology to learn about Nebraska's online master's degree and how entomology education works on the internet! UNL's online master's was the first of its kind in entomology and Erin is not only the academic advisor and lecture for this program, she's a graduate of it! Tune in to learn about the three online entomology degrees in the US, how the experience is different than an in person degree, and how you can enroll! 

Show notes: 

Learn more about UNL's online program here

Erin's email: ebauer2@unl.edu

Erin Bauer Dept of Ento profile: https://entomology.unl.edu/faculty/erin-bauer

Online MS in Entomology UNL webpage: https://entomology.unl.edu/online-master-science-entomology

Online MS in Entomology Students Facebook Page: http://on.fb.me/1U5ibO1

Distance Entomology Masters Projects: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/entodistmasters/

Nebraska Entomology Twitter: https://twitter.com/UNLEntomology

UNL Entomology Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/unlentomology/

 

Fun stuff:

Insects in the World Fiction: https://academic.oup.com/ae/article/59/2/95/6742

Ultimate Recyclers: Maggots and Murder video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4pTI-Cgq8Q

Shed that Cuticle (fun video!): https://vimeo.com/372642833 (PW: ento115)

Death Scene Insect Succession in Nebraska Guidebook https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/entomologyfacpub/983/

Entomology Lesson Plans for Elementary Educators: https://pressbooks.nebraska.edu/unlentomologylessonplansforelementaryeducators/

Questions? Comments? 

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

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Arthro-Pod Special Mini-Pod: A Giant Discovery with Michael Skvarla

Recently, Michael has been making the rounds in the news due to a discovery he made starting in 2012 back in his old stomping grounds of Arkansas. What started with insect collected straight off the side of a Wal-Mart has ended with a media blitz covering the epiphany that Mike had in front of a Zoom class in 2020 and the release of a journal article focused on a giant lacewing! Tune in and read on to find out more.  

Photograph of the giant lacewing specimen, used as Figure 1 in the publication about the discovery

Screenshots of Michael teaching his Biodiversity and Taxonomy class over Zoom when he determined that the specimen was a giant lacewing. This is what the class was seeing as the discovery happened.

Show notes

If you want to read the paper that reported the discovery, it can be found here. If you can't access it because of the paywall, email Michael (mxs1578_NO_@_SPAM_psu.edu and he will be happy to provide a copy.

If you haven't seen any of the news articles, some of the more prominent can be found below:

PSU press release

NY Times

BBC

der Speigel

NPR Weekend Edition

 

Questions? Comments? 

Follow the show on Twitter @Arthro_Podshow

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

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Arthro-Pod EP 132: Water Mites with Logan Stenger

 

In February's final episode, Mike is hosting solo! Tune in to join him and his graduate student, Logan Stenger, as they dive in to water mites and talk about Logan's work!

Questions? Comments? 

Follow the show on Twitter @Arthro_Podshow

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

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Arthro-Pod EP 131: The Life of a Curator with Dr. Ainsley Seago

On today's episode of Arthro-Pod, the gang meets up with a returning guest! Dr. Ainsley Seago was first featured in Arthro-Pod Episode number 8, way back in 2015, and we're so glad she agreed to come and talk to us about her life as the associate curator for the Section of Invertebrate Zoology at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, PA. Tune in to hear about this unique career path, a discussion on why beetles are the most superior insect order, and why museums are important!

Show notes: 

https://carnegiemnh.org/research/ainsley-e-seago-ph-d/

https://twitter.com/americanbeetles

https://beetlesink.tumblr.com/

Questions? Comments? 

Follow the show on Twitter @Arthro_Podshow

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

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Arthro-Pod EP 130: Eat, digest, poop- how insects eat

 

Insects are extremely diverse. Part of that diversity is apparent in the ways that they consume their preferred food. Today, inspired by an anonymous listener question, the Arthro-Pod gang goes over the different types of insect mouths and how they help insects to begin the process of digestion. Then join them as they traverse the three "guts" of insects and end up on the other side of the anus with insect frass. It's an episode with lots of colorful descriptions and turns of phrase, that's for sure. 

Insect mouths come in different shapes and perform different jobs but they contain the same parts across most of the board; a labrum, the mandibles, maxillae, the hypopharnyx, and the labium

Chewing mouths are the most common of all mouths, found on predators and herbivores such as this grasshopper

Chewing-lapping mouthparts can chew pollen and help with lapping up honey and nectar

Siphoning mouthparts are unique, they have been modified to curl up and unfurl and help slurp up nectar

Piercing-sucking mouthparts can be used to suck juices from plants, or as this wheel bug would do, to suck the juices from prey

Sponging mouthparts are found on many flies, they use these to acquire liquid food

Show notes

https://genent.cals.ncsu.edu/bug-bytes/digestive-system/

https://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~rider/Pentatomoidea/Teaching%20Structure/Lecture%20Notes/Week%2011a%20Digestive%20System.pdf

Some of Jody's favorite bug poo

Drywood termite frass is quite distinct

Tomato hornworm frass is often compared to the shape of a hand grenade

Here a tortoise shell beetle uses frass as a defensive shield

Questions? Comments? 

Follow the show on Twitter @Arthro_Podshow

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

Get the show through Apple Podcast, Stitcher, Spotify, 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!  

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 129: Rocky mountain locust in 2023 with JoVonn Hill

 Welcome to the 2023 season of Arthro-Pod! In today's episode, we meet up with Dr. JoVonn Hill of Mississippi State and the Mississippi Entomological Museum to have our final word on Rocky Mountain locust. We've heard about their historical destruction, we've covered the biology of what happened on the plains all those years ago, and now we want to hear about the current era of research on this insect. Plus, JoVonn shares his story of how he got into entomology, how to become an orthopterist, and how the outreach mission of the Mississippi Entomological Museum works. Tune in!

Show notes

Check out the MSU Department here

Learn more about the Mississippi Entomological Museum at this link

Here's just a taste of JoVonn's work with grasshoppers in the Southeast!

Check out all the cool things that Mississippi Bug Blues does for outreach

Find JoVonn on Twitter @JoVonnH 

Questions? Comments? 

Follow the show on Twitter @Arthro_Podshow

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

Get the show through Apple Podcast, Stitcher, Spotify, 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!  

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 128: Rocky Mountain Locust Book Club part 2

 

Welcome back to Arthro-Pod bug lovers! Today, we are finishing the year out with part of our book club, focused on "Locust" by Jeffrey Lockwood.  In part one, we talked about some of the historical sources and reactions to locust plagues. In part two, we'll be talking more about what locusts are, how they happen, and the mysterious demise of the rocky mountain locust. Join us, won't you?

Questions? Comments? 

Follow the show on Twitter @Arthro_Podshow

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

Get the show through Apple Podcast, Stitcher, Spotify, 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!  

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