Welcome back bug lovers! Today we venture into the world of worms, both segmented and unsegmented, to talk about jumping worms and hammerhead worms. While neither of them are arthropods, entomologists have been fielding inquiries on both over the last few years. We try to dispel some of the myths surrounding these wiggly wonders and discuss the possible negative effects they could have in the environment. So grab a bag of gummy worms and tune in!

Questions? Comments? 

Howdy bug lovers! Scale insects are simultaneously fascinating and sort of uninteresting. They are notoriously immobile for much of their life, making them the insect of equivalent of couch potatoes. But, with that comes intriguing questions about how they live, thrive, and survive. Today, Mike is flying solo to interview Scott Schneider all about this particular group of true bugs! Tune in!

Scott Schneider, scale expert extraordinaire and our interviewee for this episode.

Scott hard at work in the field.

Soft scale on a Rubus. Note how the waxy covering appears softer than that of hard scales.

 Lac scales, from which products like shellac are produced.

Xenococcid scale insect that is associated with Acropyga ants. 

Acropyga worker moving a xenococcid scale. Photo by Jonghyun Park via iNaturalist, used under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license.

All photographs by Scott Schneider and used with permission unless otherwise noted.

Show notes

Sodano et al. 2024. Scale insect (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha) morphology is transformed under trophobiosis.  Annals of the Entomological Society of America 117(1): 49–63, https://doi.org/10.1093/aesa/saad033

Schneider et al. 2018. Molecular phylogenetics of Aspidiotini armored scale insects (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) reveals rampant paraphyly, curious species radiations, and multiple origins of association with Melissotarsus ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 129: 291-303. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2018.09.003

Questions? Comments? 

Hello bug lovers and welcome to a roach filled Valentine's edition of Artho-Pod! Jody and Jonathan meet up with Dr. Andrew Sutherland of University of California Extension. Andrew is an urban entomologist and an area IPM advisor for UC who serves the San Francisco area. As for today's topic, the Turkestan cockroach is an intriguing invasive species that is competing with other roaches, such as the oriental roach, for space. Due to a variety of factors, the Turkestan roach seems to be spreading and is also being noticed by people in the western US. All of that adds up to an interesting podcast episode filled with cockroach facts, thoughts on how the Turkestan roach is spreading, and possible management strategies. 

Show Notes

Questions? Comments? 

Hello bug lovers and our new machine overlords and welcome to a new episode of Arthro-Pod. Today, Jody, Jon, and Mike, decide to swerve a bit out of their lane and discuss their thoughts about artificial intelligence, specifically the intersection of AI and entomology/Extension. There is a lot of clamor over what AI means for the future and what it means ethically. Extension is one area of the academy that seems like AI may have a profound impact on. The gang tries to slice through the hype and share their feelings as well as some reporting on artificial intelligence. Tune in to hear more and share your thoughts with the crew as well!

Show Notes

https://entomologytoday.org/2023/09/14/systematic-entomology-artificial-intelligence/

https://futurism.com/sports-illustrated-ai-generated-writers

https://extension.org/2019/04/23/using-artificial-intelligence-to-support-extension-services/

https://extension.org/tools/extbot/

https://agrilinks.org/post/revolutionizing-extension-models-artificial-intelligence-service-smallholder-farmers

https://www.ifpri.org/blog/can-we-trust-ai-generate-agricultural-extension-advisories

 Questions? Comments? 

 Hello friends, and welcome back to Arthro-Pod! Today's episode is a look at a phenomenon many entomologists will encounter, even if they aren't ready to, known as delusory parasitosis. Also referred to as delusions of infestation and Ekbom's syndrome, this situation involves a person believing that their body and home are infested with some sort of biting or stinging pest, despite there being no evidence that is true. We're all predisposed to interpret certain signals as being caused by an insect or mite trying to crawl on us or bite us and unfortunately, sometimes this can further manifest as delusory parasitosis. Sufferers are often desperate for help and entomologists are often helpless to provide assistance. Today we wanted to outline some of the background of delusory parasitosis and talk about how entomologists can help, while also protecting themselves. 

Show Notes

Hinkle, N.C. 2000. Delusory parasitosis. American Entomologist

https://academic.oup.com/ae/article/46/1/17/2389588

Hinkle, N.C. 2010. Ekbom Syndrome: the challenge of “invisible

Hinkle, N.C. 2011. Ekbom Syndrome: a delusional condition of “bugs

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21344286/

Szepietowski, J.C., Salomon, J., Hrehorów, E., Pacan, P.,

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17373971/

 Questions? Comments? 

Hello bug lovers! We hope you have had a wonderful 2023 and are looking forward to 2024. To wrap our season for the year, we wanted to do something fun and make a bit of a news round up focused on arthropods (and some adjacent critters) and see what people were saying about our creepy crawly friends. We'll go from worm rain all the way through malaria and how to kill wasps with gas! We hope you'll tune in and that you'll join us again next year. 

Show notes 

Worm rain

https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL1N35P20W/

Yellow legged hornets

https://www.wtoc.com/2023/12/28/yellow-legged-hornet-arrives-2023/

Mormon crickets

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/crushed-crickets-are-blanketing-nevada-roads-with-slime-180982415/

Malaria in the US

https://time.com/6291002/locally-acquired-malaria-cases-usa/

Invasives on the move

https://news.yahoo.com/heres-expanded-box-tree-moth-164342473.html

https://news.yahoo.com/heres-expanded-box-tree-moth-164342473.html

Wasps and gasoline

https://www.countryliving.com/home-maintenance/cleaning/a44563522/tiktok-trend-gasoline-wasp-nest-extremely-unsafe/