Entomology Advanced Training for Master Gardeners & Master Naturalists

 

The regular, week long training has been cancelled for 2020 due to COVID, but we are hosting a four part online Zoom training for you to get your entomology fix!

Time for each meeting: 6-7:30pm

October 6 - Entomology 101 & How to ID Common Insect Orders
October 7 - Native Pollinators & Pollinator Gardening
October 13 - Veggie Pest Management
October 14 - Landscape and Ornamental Pest Management

Presenters include: Molly Keck, Erfan Vafaie, Wizzie Brown

Register here:
https://agriliferegister.tamu.edu/organizationListings/11

Cost is $25 for all four sessions.  Presentations will be live and interactive with the presenters, as well as recorded for later viewing.  Registrants will receive a book and materials relating to sessions.

Cicada killer wasps emerging in Central Texas

Over the past week I've been getting questions on large wasps that people are seeing emerging from the ground.  They want to know what they are and be reassured that they are not the Asian giant hornet.  These wasps are known as cicada killers and are aptly named.  Cicada killers are large wasps, reaching around 1.5 inches.  They have a rusty colored head and thorax with a black and yellow patterned abdomen.  The wings are also rusty in color, but transparent.

Cicada killer wasps are solitary, but multiple wasps may be seen in the same area at times.  Males are known for aggressively defending their territory and patrolling burrows created underground. While males dive bomb someone who walks into their territory, they are incapable of stinging.  Female cicada killers are capable of stinging, but generally reserve their stinger for paralyzing prey and tend to only sting in defense.

Adult wasps feed on nectar and tree sap while immatures feed on cicadas.  Adult female wasps locate a cicada, sting it causing the cicada to become paralyzed and then carry it back to the tunnel created in the ground.  She drags the cicada into the tunnel and to a nesting chamber.  Each chamber is provisioned with 1-2 cicadas before the female lays an egg on the leg of the cicada and seals up the chamber.  Once the egg hatches, the wasp larva eats the provided cicadas, overwintering in the ground as a mature larva, and pupating the following year to emerge again when cicadas are available.

Tunnels are about a foot deep and about 2 feet long with 3-4 chambers off to the sides for provision cicadas for larvae.

These wasps are considered to be beneficial, so no control is recommended.  If you feel that you need to manage them, you can:
1. Use clear plastic tarp over the tunnel area to solarize
2. Sprinkle and insecticidal dust around the tunnel opening and tamp it down with your foot

Why entomology? Why study bugs?

I often get the questions of today's topic posed to me when I meet people.  Why did you go into entomology?  How did you decide to work with bugs?

It all started when I was a kid.  I loved insects.  I have various memories throughout my childhood that pointed to my future career as an entomologist, but I didn't know at the time that I could work with insects and get paid for it.

In 5th grade, we were assigned to research and write a report on the animal of our choice.  My friends picked normal things like dogs or giraffes or penguins.  What did I choose to do my report on?  Ticks.  Yes, you read it correctly.  The animal I wrote about was a blood-sucking ectoparasite known to transmit various diseases to mammals.  Why did I forego learning and writing about something cute and cuddly?  I could be glib and just say that I'm weird, which is true but doesn't quite give a complete answer.  We had three large dogs when I was a kid and lived in the middle of nothing.  Ticks- picking them off the dogs, checking yourself for them when you came in from playing outside, smashing the engorged ones with a hammer (not the best idea, I know now....)- were a way of life.  I wanted to know more about them and the report was the perfect way to accomplish my goal.

In 6th grade we were introduced to science fair.  We had to come up with a hypothesis, test it, draw conclusions and report on it.  What did I choose for this project?  I decided to buy an ant farm and build an ant farm to test which one would make the ants happier (i.e. tunnel further through the substrate).  This little project was inspired by one of my very favorite books to read as a small child- Ants are Fun by Mildred Myrick.  Yes, I was weird even as a small child.  I can admit it now.  The book was about a kid that just moved into a new house and his curious neighbor wondering what the new kid was doing digging around in the yard.  The new kid loved ants and had made an ant farm, so inspiration! I thought it would be a great idea to make my own ant farm.

Let's jump to high school where I got to go to Ohio State (it was called that back then, as opposed to THE Ohio State University) to tour the biological sciences department and learn about the different programs they had.  Entomology was one of those programs.  I was enchanted and giddy at the thought of learning more about insects.  For some reason, when I finally got around to going to Ohio State after graduating from high school, I decided I wanted to be a geneticist.  I began that course of study, changed to biology and then finally got around to taking an entomology class after I got all of my science prerequisites completed.  I changed my major to entomology about two weeks into the entomology course.  I remember calling my mom to tell her about changing my major and she said "What are you going to do with that?!"

Fortunately, things have worked out well for me.  I have two degrees in entomology, married an entomologist (who doesn't mind bugs in the freezer....the engineer I dated during undergrad was not fond of looking for food and finding bugs), and now my mom has someone to call whenever she has a bug that she needs to have identified.

Why an entomologist?

People often ask why I became an entomologist. I've always been fascinated with insects and other arthropods so I guess it was maybe inevitable. How can you look and truly see the insect world and not be blown away by the beauty and complexity that you see there? This video captures pollinators- look at the wonder of the natural world. Enjoy.

Great Entomology Resource- with images!

I often get questions on where to go for images of insects to help people with identification. While field guides are a good idea, not everyone wants to have piles of insects books laying around like me.

The 4-H Entomology website is a wonderful resource for not only 4-H participants, but the general public. While the site is targeted for 4-H Entomology students, there is a link to a list of common insects you can find in your own backyard well as while you travel throughout the state.

The guide to insect and non-insect orders is really cool because you can learn how to pronounce all those scientific names (it's an interactive pdf file- waaay cool!) and find out information on biology and characteristics.

Another great feature is a link to insect collecting videos. No, this isn't people collecting insects, but videos that show you how to do things like how to use an aspirator, choosing the correct net, pinning insects, etc. It's a great how-to section for those of you who want to start insect collecting as a hobby or start a reference collection to utilize as a teaching tool.