As spiders leave the kitchen, pests keep cooking
A spider in the family Anyphaenidae has made its home on a twig infested with scale insects. Photo: Emily Meineke, Harvard University I think by now most people accept that we can’t hope [...]
Frank Lab Brings the Buzz to Bugfest
Johnny Randall, April Hamblin, and Elsa Youngsteadt at the 2015 Bugfest pollinators booth. Photo: Mary Frasier Hordes of insects descended upon downtown Raleigh last weekend, and, paradoxically, drew scores of human admirers. Could [...]
Banker plant diversity and biocontrol–new paper
Aphidius colemani parasitoid with aphid mummy. Photo: David Cappaert, Michigan State University, Bugwood.org Our new paper just published in Insects takes a look at whether using a variety of banker plant species enhances biocontrol [...]
Rare sight, common occurrence: Parasitoid wasp emerges from a scale insect
This is a guest post by PhD student Emily Meineke Coccophagus lycimnia freshly emerged from a gloomy scale. Photo: Emily Meineke If I’ve learned anything during my graduate career, it’s how to count scale [...]
IPM Symposium in Western NC – biocontrol, bees, and bugs
This is a fantastic symposium that has grown each year. It provides high-level information on IPM from national experts in biological control, pest ID, scouting and monitoring, disease management, pesticide use, and other topics. See [...]
New paper: Everything you wanted to know about parasitoids and aphids in greenhouse biocontrol
Aphidius colemani parasitizing an aphid. Photo: AG Dale The parasitoid wasp, Aphidius colemani, injects eggs into aphids so their larvae can develop inside. After a week or two an adult wasp emerges dramatically [...]
Hoverflies – Bee mimics provide pollination and biocontrol services
Hoverfly on Chrysogonum virginianum. Photo: SD Frank You can often see hoverflies zipping in and out of flowers in your garden. They approach a flowering shrub or group of flowering perennials and hover [...]
Millions of scale insect predators hatching…careful they look like mealybugs!
Two larvae on willow oak trunk. Photo: SD Frank Yesterday on campus willow oak trees were covered in millions of what looked like mealybugs. But they were faster than mealybugs and constantly moving [...]
Aphids and natural enemies on tulip poplar
This time of year tulip poplar leaves are covered in aphids. The great thing about aphids is that they attract a diverse array of predators and parasitoids and even fungi. Therefore, after a few weeks [...]
Do scary parasites mean my yard is healthy?
This is a post by our Research Associate Elsa Youngsteadt about some rare parasites she found. In a lab full of people quietly staring through microscopes, a startled yelp occasionally breaks the silence. And I [...]