Arthro-Pod: February 2022

Saturday, February 26, 2022

Arthro-Pod EP 108 Ukrainian Entomology, War, and Defiance

Arthro-Pod host Michael Skvarla speaks with Dr. Viktor Baranov, a Ukrainian entomologist living in Germany, about the unjustified war of aggression between Russia and Ukraine through the lens of entomology. Specifically, they discuss the climate and geography of Ukraine and how that impacts the entomofauna of the country, important historic and living Ukrainian entomologists, Ukrainian amber deposits and how they fit into the wider scope of European (e.g., Baltic) amber, and how the war with Russia may affect entomology in Ukraine in the future. These somewhat disparate topics are threaded together by Dr. Baranov's personal and professional history and experiences.

Show notes

Dr. Viktor Baranov, guest of the episode. He's on Twitter @swarmofthought. Google Scholar, Research Gate, Personal research website.

Map of Ukraine. By Grid Ardenal, in the public domain.

Hierodula transcaucasica, Crimea. Photo by V. Inshyna, used with permission.

Bolivaria brachyptera, Crimea. Photo by V. Inshyna, used with permission.

Ameles heldreichi, Crimea. Photo by V. Inshyna, used with permission.

Distoleon tetragrammicus, Crimea. Photo by V. Inshyna, used with permission.

Leibelloides macaronius, Crimea. Photo by V. Inshyna, used with permission.

Hydrobaenus korneyevi type locality in Crimea.

Serhiy Yakowych Paramoniv (1894-1967), a prolific Ukrainian dipterist who described 700 species in 185 scientific articles. Due to his efforts during WWII, a number of historic buildings and lives were saved but after the war he fled into exile from the Soviet Union. Source: V.O. Korneyev.

Presentation about Paramoniv by Prof. Valery Korneyev [in Ukrainian].

Example of Paramoniv's scholarly work: Paramonov, S. J. (1955) XVII.—Notes on Australian Diptera (XVI–XIX), Journal of Natural History Series 12, 8:86, 125-14.

Kyiv burning during WWII. September 1941. Public domain.

Ginsburg’s house blown up by Soviet NKVD, September, 1941. In the public domain

National Academy of Science in Kyiv, one of the buildings saved from destruction by S. Y. Paramoniv. Photograph by Star61, in the public domain.

National Opera in Kyiv. Photograph by AMY via Wikimedia Commons, in the public domain.

Prof. Valery Korneyev, Head of the Department of Entomology, Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv. Google Scholar, Research Gate. Photograph by V. Baranov, used with permission.

Dr. Natalia Matushkina, Institute of Biology and Medicine, National Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv. Research Gate.

Learn more about the I.I. Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine [in English].

Learn more about Ukrainian fauna at the Ukrainian Biodiversity Information Network.

Some trustworthy sources for news about Ukraine, including the invasion:

Kyiv Independent

Censor.net

Kyiv Post

Ways to help:

List of charities accepting monetary donations

Donate directly the Ukrainian National Bank

Canadians: The Canadian Government is matching donations to the Canadian Red Cross dollar for dollar.

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

Wednesday, February 23, 2022

Arthro-Pod EP 107: Frank Meek, International Man of Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

Join us today on Arthro-Pod as we meet up with Frank Meek, BCE, PCQI, the technical manager of Rollins inc., the parent company of Orkin Pest Control. Frank started his career with Orkin back in 1986, simply because he needed a job, but remained and succeeded in the industry because he loves his work and enjoys training others about the very important role of the pest controller or pest management professional in society. Today we explore how Frank defines IPM and the public misconceptions of pest management and learn about some of the out-of-the-box experiences he’s had with phorid flies in a mausoleum, earwigs in a cheese factory, pests of ancient artifacts, ants on an oil rig, and the time he called in the Navy to assist with a special case. What pests keeps Frank up at night? What scares him, if it’s not 300 ft heights or tight and confined spaces like tombs, tunnels, and crawlspaces? Tune in to find out!

Frank Meek, International Man of Pest Management

Show notes

Frank has received recognition and several awards for his achievements, and our team was grateful that he made time to enlighten us through storytelling about pest control around the world.

Article about Frank Meek:

https://www.pctonline.com/article/meek-rollins-ipm-award/

Contact:

https://www.rollins.com/

https://www.orkin.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/frank-meek-bce-pcqi-73414934/

Email: Fmeek@rollins.com

Quotes from our interview:

“The fun part of it is solving problems. The fun part of this is helping people and teaching people.” – Frank Meek

“No little boy or girl ever grew up and said, “I’m going to be a pest controller.’ You fall into it. You love it and you stick with it, or you hate it and we try and run you off as fast as possible because if you don’t love it and don’t enjoy the work, you’re not going to be any good at it.” – Frank Meek

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!

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

Monday, February 14, 2022

Arthro-Pod EP 106: Talking Bed Bugs and German Cockroaches with Morgan Wilson

Howdy bug lovers! On today's episode of Arthro-Pod, our guest is Morgan Wilson, a research technician and PhD graduate student at Dodson Urban Pest Management Laboratory at Virginia Tech. She is involved in some very exciting and applied field and laboratory research with German cockroaches and bed bugs with the goal of finding solutions for these troublesome pests in public housing. Find out the answers to questions like: Do bed bugs and cockroaches live together? Can you ever get rid of a heavy cockroach infestation in an apartment building? How to heat treatments for bed bugs work? What is fumigation and how can it be used against bed bugs? And finally, are bed bugs cute? We can all sleep better knowing that researchers like Morgan are seeking answers to our problems with these troublesome urban pests.