ABC 7 - Who would think something so small could be so devastating? Nevertheless, entomologists continue to sound the alarm about the goldspotted oak borer, an invasive insect that some experts believe has killed more than 80,000 oak trees across Southern California. "It's just fascinating how this insect has been around for 50 million years...
THE ATLANTIC - Every year, beginning around the end of March, my household starts planning a massacre. Our targets are our home’s clothes moths: My spouse and I lay pheromone-laced traps in the closets, living room, and bedrooms; we—and our two cats—go on alert for any stray speckle of brown on a cream-colored wall. The...
LOS ANGELES TIMES - The goldspotted oak borer has spread across Southern California since its discovery in 2008 in San Diego County, where it has slaughtered more than 80,000 trees. Joelene Tamm, a graduate student with UC Riverside’s entomology department who studies the goldspotted oak borer, is concerned with slowing its march north into the...
USA TODAY - In August 2023, a beekeeper near the port of Savannah, Georgia, noticed that something odd was hunting his honeybees. Black with bright yellow legs, the flying insect would hover at the hive entrance, capture a flying honeybee and butcher it before darting off with the bee’s thorax, the meatiest bit. “He’d only...
THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE - A look at our local Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth) species and share some tips on how to protect them. New conservation tool One of the ways you could help butterflies and moths in your local area is by creating a space with plants they are attracted to. Chris Cosma, a recent Ph.D...
LAIST.COM - If you had plans to visit the Crystal Lake recreation area in the San Gabriel Mountains and Angeles National Forest this week, you should change them. Officials closed the area Tuesday to spray insecticide on pine trees to protect them from a tree-colonizing beetle. The western pine beetle is small, about 3 to...
THE DAILY MAIL - A new harder-to-kill species of bed bug is invading the US, experts say — and may already have taken up residence in many northern cities. Once confined to countries near the equator, the species known as Ci mex hemipterus — or the tropical bed bug — has already been confirmed in...
ENTOMOLOGY TODAY - German cockroaches (Blattella germanica) are a major global insect pest in urban buildings as purveyors of allergens as well as pathogens such as Salmonella, E. coli, and Rotavirus. Control of German cockroaches is usually done with insecticide sprays and insecticide-loaded baits, but cockroach populations can evolve resistance to insecticides, and insecticides can...
Richard Dean “Dick” Goeden, Professor Emeritus of Entomology, passed away on August 17, 2023. Goeden was born in Neillsville, Wisconsin on May 20, 1935, to Aleda and InJerome Goeden. He grew up in Wisconsin, but little is known about his childhood; he did at times recall that he played cards after school with his buddies...
ENTOMOLOGY TODAY - Subterranean termites in the genus Reticulitermes are common pests in North America, responsible for significant damage to wooden structures. The scientific literature maintains that the western United States is home to two native species of termites: Reticulitermes hesperus in more coastal regions from British Columbia to Southern California, and Reticulitermes tibialis in...
