Arthro-Pod EP 112: Meet Dr. Val Korneyev, Ukrainian Entomologist

In this episode, Michael and Jonathan speak with Dr. Val Korneyev, professor of entomology and head of the Entomology Department at the Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology in Kyiv, Ukraine. Topics discussed include his work with tephritoid fruit flies, the 6 million specimen collection at the institute, and evacuating important type specimens from Kyiv to Berlin, Germany during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Other anecdotes include coming of age as a scientist in the USSR during the 1980's and dealing with the KGB, the view of Ukrainian science to some in Western Europe and the Americas, as well as the future of Ukrainian entomology after the war.

 Viktor Baranov (left, guest in Episode 108) and Valery Korneyev (right). Photos courtesy of Viktor Baranov via Twitter.

 

Bags containing boxes of type specimens being evacuated from Kyiv to Berlin during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Photos courtesy of Viktor Baranov via Twitter.

If you want to learn more about Val's scholarly work, here are his Google Scholar profile and Research Gate profile, as well as presentations he's given on Old World Pyrgotidae and “Parasitic Fruit Flies”: Pyrgotidae, Ctenostylidae, Tachiniscidae.

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 111: The League of Entomology Consultants

 

Welcome back to Arthro-Pod bug lovers! Today's episode is a jam-packed guest bonanza, with three visitors stopping by to talk about their careers. We are joined by Jennifer Gordon of Bug Lessons, Chelle Hartzer of 360 Pest and Food Consulting, and Janet Kintz-Early of JAK Consulting Services. We dive into what being an entomological consultant means, the services they offer, and how one might get into the career field. It is a lot of fun to hear from folks who are passionate about their work and have some interesting entomological tales to tell. Tune in to hear all about it! 

The making of a podcast!

Show Notes

Chelle Hartzer and 360 Pest & Food

Website: https://www.chellehartzer.com/

Latest "Wine-ing about pest control": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahYbnNMsEIQ

Jennifer Gordon and Bug Lessons

Website:  www.buglessons.com

Janet Kintz-Early and JAK Pesticide Consultants

Website: https://www.jakconsultingservices.com/ 

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 110: The Spongy Moth and Trouvelot's Bad Idea

 

Last episode, we dove into the reasons why the ESA chose to select a new common name for Lymantria dispar and why we'll be using spongy moth going forward. Today's episode looks further into this species by covering the introduction of spongy moth to North America. This historic event was the result of an idea by entomologist Etienne Leopold Trouvelot. In an attempt to establish an American silk industry, Trouvelot imported this invasive species and sadly lost control of them, ultimately imposing a mighty pest on North America. Join us to hear about what he was thinking, what exactly happened in Medford, MA, and what fate befell Trouvelot and the situation he created. 

Here we can see Trouvelot on the left, in the only known photo of him. Next to him, the spongy moth caterpillar which he unfortunately helped bring to North America. 

Show Notes:

Much of the research for today's episode comes from a book by Robert Spear, "The Great Gypsy Moth War"

Trouvelot may have had a bad idea for his entomology research, but he did garner some renown in the world of astronomy in the second half of his academic life. As we detail in the episode, he was able to command a premium price for his services and artwork and his celestial art still captures attention today. Here's just a few examples: 

Trouvelot's lunar craters

Trouvelot's Jupiter

The Jupiter drawing as it appears in an episode of Star Trek

Trouvelot's Saturn

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 109: The Spongy Moth and The Better Common Names Project

Howdy bug lovers! On today's episode of Arthro-Pod, the gang is joined by Ahn Tran and Josh Lancette, who graciously agreed to talk about the Entomological Society of America's Better Common Names group, of which they are both members. 

The Better Common Names Taskforce is working to make sure that the common names we use to communicate about insects don't enforce negative stereotypes or use racist language. They are best known for helping to change the common name of Lymantria dispar to "the spongy moth". 

Tune in to hear about how this important committee came to be, why this work is needed for entomology, and the process by which the group came to pick spongy moth. 

Show Notes:

Learn moreabout the Better Common Names Project

https://entsoc.org/publications/common-names/better-common-names-project

Pre-order Biotic Borders by Jeannie N. Shinozuka

https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/B/bo131341992.html

To read more about the name spongy moth, check this link!

https://entsoc.org/publications/common-names/spongy-moth

War and Nature, which our guest Josh Lancette quotes from

https://www.google.com/books/edition/War_and_Nature/pDW4YNkmvZYC?hl=en

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

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

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

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

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.   

A mess of German cockroaches Gary Alpert, Harvard University, Bugwood.org

Show notes

https://www.ento.vt.edu/people/Gradstudent(New)/M_Wilson.html  

Bed Bug Egg Development Time Lapse as explained by Morgan in the podcast: 

https://youtu.be/4xDtI6_45Gc 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/19XU8kip8vGkCuJtXDyDUIQIAWINsp42r/view

Where you can find Morgan and the work being done at the Virginia Tech Bed Bug and Urban Pest Information Center: 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VTBedBugandUrbanPestInformationCenter/  

Instagram: vtbedbug 

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