Random buggy news...

* BibliOddesy has a neat collection of vintage illustrations from bee/apiculture literature with links to some other resources. (LINK)

* PESTIVAL was held from the 3rd-6th of September in the UK and featured all sorts of cool insect inspired art. Check out their website (LINK).

* A new book out called "The Math Book: From Pythagoras to the 57th Dimension, 250 Milestones in the History of Mathematics" by Clifford Pickover has a neat exerpt that talks about cicadas:

Cicada-Generated Prime Numbers

Cicadas are winged insects that evolved around 1.8 million years ago during the Pleistocene epoch, when glaciers advanced and retreated across North America. Cicadas of the genus Magicicada spend most of their lives below the ground, feeding on the juices of plant roots, and then emerge, mate, and die quickly. These creatures display a startling behavior: Their emergence is synchronized with periods of years that are usually the prime numbers 13 and 17. (A prime number is an integer such as 11, 13, and 17 that has only two integer divisors: 1 and itself.) During the spring of their 13th or 17th year, these periodical cicadas construct an exit tunnel. Sometimes more than 1.5 million individuals emerge in a single acre; this abundance of bodies may have survival value as they overwhelm predators such as birds that cannot possibly eat them all at once.

Some researchers have speculated that the evolution of prime-number life cycles occurred so that the creatures increased their chances of evading shorter-lived predators and parasites. For example, if these cicadas had 12-year life cycles, all predators with life cycles of 2, 3, 4, or 6 years might more easily find the insects. Mario Markus of the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Physiology in Dortmund, Germany, and his coworkers discovered that these kinds of prime-number cycles arise naturally from evolutionary mathematical models of interactions between predator and prey. In order to experiment, they first assigned random life-cycle durations to their computer-simulated populations. After some time, a sequence of mutations always locked the synthetic cicadas into a stable prime-number cycle.

Of course, this research is still in its infancy and many questions remain. What is special about 13 and 17? What predators or parasites have actually existed to drive the cicadas to these periods? Also, a mystery remain as to why, of the 1,500 cicada species worldwide, only a small number of the genus Magicicada are known to be periodical.

Very cool vlog about a human bot fly.

"Stevie's Bug"

I recently got this photo in my email with a humors "Oh buggy one.... what is this in my garden?" and thought you'd all enjoy the photo. It appears to be a "Hummingbird Moth" in the family Sphingidae and they apparently love Stevie's Lilac Tree! (Photo taken in Northern Virginia)

Cool Bugs in the News

-A really cool article on the lifecycle of the ladybug (Harmonia axridis) with AMAZING photos. Link

- Did you know spiders come back to life after being "drowned"? Link

Jim Ottea receives College of Ag teaching award

Jim Ottea has received this year’s NACTA (National Association of Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture) Teaching Award from the LSU College of Agriculture. This award recognizes Ottea’s record of excellence in teaching both undergraduate and graduate courses.

Congratulations Jim from the EntClub!

LSU Ent. Club CRAWFISH BOIL!

WHEN: Saturday, 9 May 2009 starting at noon

WHERE: Dr. Hummel's house: 3945 Hundred Oaks

WHAT TO BRING: Bring a chair for yourself and a side dish if you so desire (sign up sheet on mail room door)

COST: Free to Entomology Club Members 
 $5 for everyone else (Buy tickets from Kat Parys)

IMPORTANT!! Please carpool if you can! 

Directions: Drive North on Acadian Thruway. Turn East (right) onto Hundred Oaks. House is on north side of Hundred oaks between Steele and Richland.

Recent Activities

Recent Ent. Club activities! (Sorry no photos yet!)

March 19: Stephanie Gil and Mike Ferro visited 2 preschool classes in the Human Ecology building here at LSU. The first class (3 year olds) learned about the life cycle of insects (egg, larva, pupa, adult). The second class (4 year olds) learned about insect defenses (stings, crypsis, mimicry, etc). 

March 30: Dawn Simms and Mike Ferro visited Dutchtown Primary School and presented three “lectures” to 6 classes about insect life cycles. The students all learned the words holometabolous and paurometabolous and loved it! 

April 22: Dr. Jim Ottea and Mike Ferro went to Glasgow Middle School’s career day and talked about Entomology and academia in general to 4 classes of bright, eager, young students. 

Many thanks to all those that helped out.