Arthro-Pod EP 169: Arthro-Pod Watches "Arachnophobia"

Welcome back bug lovers! We apologize for the delay in new content but some technical difficulties have been felt. Everything is back on track now and we'll be posting frequently to end 2024! Tune in to this belated Halloween celebration where we dive into the 1990 film, "Arachnophobia". Prep yourself for some bizarre spider behavior, as well as John Goodman hamming it up as a fascinating practitioner of the pest control arts. 

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Arthro-Pod EP 168 The Great Insect Fair at Penn State

 

Join Michael Skvarla of Penn State Entomology for a tour around the annual Great Insect Fair. 

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

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Arthro-Pod EP 167: What's New with Spotted Lanternfly with Dr. Julie Urban

 

Spotted lanternfly is one of the most dashing and prominent invasive species in the United States. This colorful planthopper is known for feeding on tree of heaven (another invasive species...) and grapes amongst quite a few others. Though they are likely best known for being being big and colorful and for going to bathroom all over everything. Join the Arthro-Pod gang as they sit down with Dr. Julie Urban of Penn State to talk all about what has happened with SLF since she last joined us in 2021!

Show Notes

https://extension.psu.edu/spotted-lanternfly 

https://extension.psu.edu/spotted-lanternfly-frequently-asked-questions

https://cals.cornell.edu/new-york-state-integrated-pest-management/outreach-education/whats-bugging-you/spotted-lanternfly/spotted-lanternfly-reported-distribution-map

https://extension.psu.edu/spotted-lanternfly-management-guide

Questions? Comments? 

Follow the show on Twitter @Arthro_Podshow

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

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Arthro-Pod EP 166: Scratching the Oak Itch Mite itch

 

Hello bug lovers and welcome to another episode of Arthro-Pod! Today, we're going to the world of mites, specifically, we will talking all about the pyemotes itch mite. This teeny tiny biting pest has been making a splash in the news recently, with lots of people in Chicago and other Illinois city's complaining about their painful nibbles. We'll talk all about the seemingly mysterious origins of the oak leaf itch mite, how entomologists in the US were first introduced to it, and why it's making headlines in 2024. Tune in, we don't bit even if the mites do!

Itch mites in action, photo by Steve Jacobs, Penn State. 

Show Notes

Mike talked about elm zig zag sawfly in our Catching up part of the podcast. If you want to learn more about the pest there is an upcoming webinar presented by Penn State University.

FREE Webinar on Sept 9: Frontiers in Forest Health: Elm Zigzag Sawfly

Link to Register: https://extension.psu.edu/frontiers-in-forest-health-elm-zigzag-sawfly       

If you want to read more about the non-native forest pest and see some good images, check out the article by Dr. David Coyle from Entomology Today in 2023

https://entomologytoday.org/2023/07/20/here-we-go-again-meet-the-elm-zigzag-sawfly-another-non-native-forest-pest/

Oak itch mites in the news

https://www.8newsnow.com/news/national-news/mystery-bug-bites-in-chicago-area-may-be-connected-to-cicadas/ 

Oak Itch Mites References

• Cloyd, R. A. 2019. Oak leaf itch mite. K-State Research and Extension. MF2806. https://bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/download/oak-leaf-itch-mite_MF2806
• Broce, A. B., Zurek, L., Kalisch, J. A., Brown, R., Keith, D. L., Gordon, D., Goedeke, J. Welbourn, C., Moser, J., Ochoa, R., Azziz-Baumgartner, E., Yip, F., and Weber, J. 2006. Pyemotes herfsi (Acari: Pyemotidae), a mite new to North America as the cause of bite outbreaks. 43(3): 610-3. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16739423/        
• Glosner, S. E., and Kang, E. 2008. Pyemotes, the mysterious itch mite. U.S. Pharmacist. 33(5): 59-64. https://www.uspharmacist.com/article/pyemotes-the-mysterious-itch-mite             
• Grob, M., Dorn, K., and Lautenschlager, S. 1998. Getreidekrätze Eine kleine Epidemie durch Pyemotes spezies Eine kleine Epidemie durch Pyemotes spezies. Hautarzt. 49(11):838-43. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s001050050835          
• Jacobs, S. 2015. Oak leaf itch mite. PennState Extension. https://extension.psu.edu/oak-leaf-itch-mite
• Keith, D. L., Kalish, J. A., and Broce, A. R. 2005. Pyemotes itch Mites. UNL Extension NF05-653. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/extensionhist/1737/      
• Krantz, G. W. and Walter, D. E. (editors). 2009. A Manual of Acarology (3rd ed.) Texas Tech University Press. Pp. 78, 79, 314, 315.
• Kritsky, G. 2021. One for the books: The 2021 emergence of the periodical cicada Brood X. American Entomologist, 67(4):40-46. https://doi.org/10.1093/ae/tmab059
• Talley, J. 2015. Finally found: Oak leaf itch mite. Oklahoma State University Extension Pest e-alerts. https://shareok.org/bitstream/handle/11244/332675/oksa_pestealerts_v14n44.pdf?sequence=1
• Zaborski, E. R. 2007. Outbreak of human pruritic dermatitis in Chicago, Illinois caused by an itch mite, Pyemotes herfsi (Oudemans, 1946) (Acarina: Heterostigmata: Pyemotidae). https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/items/18258 

The life and times of an itch mite, credit to Broce et al. 2006

Arthro-Pod EP 165 Pheromones and Fireflies with Dr. Sarah Lower

On today's episode, Michael is flying solo when he interviews Dr. Sarah Lower of Bucknell University. Dr. Lower is an expert on the evolution of signaling in the fireflies, one of the more popular group of insects we have here on Earth. Usually when people think of this flashy group, they visualize their ability to light up. Tune in to hear Dr. Lower talk about how not all fireflies are illuminated and her work with a pheromone for Lampyridae. 

If you want to learn more about Dr. Lower's work, check out her lab website.

Questions? Comments? 

Follow the show on Twitter @Arthro_Podshow

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

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Arthro-Pod EP 164: Mothman versus Arthro-Pod

 

Greetings from the void, bug lovers! Today's episode is a bit different in flavor... Michael and Jonathan met up this month for a dual family vacation and they are in search of the mythical Mothman! Join them as the delve into the world of cryptozoology and ask the question, why aren't there more insect cryptids? Check out the show notes to hear from John Acorn, entomology luminary, on this exact topic. Then, listen as they recount the tale of Mothman, who or what was he? Why were people in Point Pleasant, WV seeing him and what does he mean to a couple of entomologists with podcast gear? All this and more in this paranormal Arthro-Pod!

*One word of warning! At the end of our discussion on Mothman, there is a strange issue with the audio that warps our voices. This was not intentional on our part. Perhaps we had disgruntled him and he took it out on our podcast gear!*

The first indication we were in Mothman territory.

Walking to the Mothman Museum, we encountered a Man in Black.

"Welcome to the museum"

View inside the main room of the Mothman Museum.

The museum has an impressive number of newspaper clippings about the Mothman sightings. I'm honestly surprised about how much coverage it got at the time.

Paraphernalia from the Mothman Prophesies movie.

Your intrepid hosts.

Sticker graffiti we saw outside of the Mothman Museum. Goatman is a fair distance away from his home range in Prince George County, Maryland.

This mayfly we saw on a window outside of the Mothman Museum was the only insect involved in this episode.

Show notes

John Acorn on entomology and cryptozoology

The fandom wiki focused on "cryptids"

Darwin's hawkmoth

Questions? Comments? 

Follow the show on Twitter @Arthro_Podshow

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

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Arthro-Pod EP 163: A Dip into Strepsiptera

 

Today's episode is a twisted one! After meeting one of our listeners a while back, there was a request for a deep dive into the world of strepsiptera, aka the twisted wing parasites. This order of insects may not be a big one, but they do hold a lot of surprises. Mike leads Jody and Jonathan through a tour of their biology, taxonomy, and why they are so useful for students who are in an insect collection course. Tune in!

Questions? Comments? 

Follow the show on Twitter @Arthro_Podshow

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

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Arthro-Pod EP 162: The Insect Head

Hello bug lovers! On today's episode of Arthro-Pod, the gang will be taking you on a journey through the first section of an insect's body, the head. This magnificent center for information gathering and processing has many wonderful adaptations of internal and external anatomy that it's truly a marvel to dissect and consider. Tune in to hear all about how the insect head came to be, what important processes occur in the head, and how fun it is to have your esophagus run through the middle of your brain!

 

Show notes

• Joro spider: https://jorowatch.org/  
• Link to 1975 Head Problem Paper 
• Antennae 
• Compound eyes 
• How bees see flowers: https://photographyoftheinvisibleworld.blogspot.com/2007/10/simulated-bee-vision-ii.html 
• Treehopper heads: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/treehoppers-bizarre-wondrous-helmets-use-wing-genes-grow-180973713/  

 Questions? Comments? 

Follow the show on Twitter @Arthro_Podshow

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

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Arthro-Pod EP 161: Insect Decline with Dr. Eliza Grames

 

Hello bug lovers and welcome back to Arthro-Pod! On today's show, the gang sits down with Dr. Eliza Grames of Binghamton University to talk about insects in decline. Terms like "insect apocalypse" are used in the media often and people have been asking Extension professionals about the gradual disappearance of things like fireflies and monarchs, Eliza helps to unpack what we know is happening with bug populations across the world. Plus, learn how scientists dissect huge stacks of data to better understand these declines and what fewer bugs might mean for things like birds. Tune in for all of it!

Show notes

https://elizagrames.github.io/

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2023989118

 Questions? Comments? 

Follow the show on Twitter @Arthro_Podshow

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

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Arthro-Pod 160: Malaria History and Eradication

Hello bug lovers and mosquito haters! On today's episode of Arthro-Pod, Michael and Jonathan delve into the long history between malaria and humanity. You won't believe the most famous folks taken down by this disease/pathogen! Plus we track the trail of malaria to the Americas and conclude the show with a discussion on the saga of malaria eradication in the United State's southern region. Tune in won't you??

 Show notes-

• Humphreys, Margaret. Malaria Poverty, Race, and Public Health in the United States. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001. Print.

• How four once common diseases were eliminated from the American South by Margaret Humphreys
• https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.2012.301065?journalCode=ajph 

 Questions? Comments? 

Follow the show on Twitter @Arthro_Podshow

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

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Arthro-Pod EP 159: The Basics of Malaria

Welcome back to Arthro-Pod! On today's episode, we begin a deep dive into the long history of malaria and its interactions with humanity. World Malaria Day was last month on April 25th, which is a global day of recognition for the many efforts under way to try and eliminate one of our species' oldest foes. In this episode, you can join you can join Jonathan and Jody in listening to Michael elucidate the biology of malaria and the types that afflict humans. 

 Show notes-

• https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/malaria/symptoms-causes/syc-20351184#overview 

• https://www.paho.org/en/topics/malaria 

 Questions? Comments? 

Follow the show on Twitter @Arthro_Podshow

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

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