Entomopathogenic is a long adjective that simply means, “capable of causing disease in insects.” Most commonly, the term refers to nematodes, fungi or bacteria that cause potentially fatal diseases in insects. Entomopathogenic organisms ... READ MORE
Category: Agriculture, Pests & Disease
Those little, squirming things in your birdbath are container-breeding mosquitoes (Figure 1). These mosquitoes are in their larval stage. Adult container-breeding mosquitoes lay eggs wherever water collects, which can be natural structures—like ... READ MORE
Category: Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes, Natural Resources, Pests & Disease, Pests & Disease, UF/IFAS, UF/IFAS Extension
In England they have been called ladybirds for over 600 years, but in the United States we call them ladybugs. The name is a misnomer, though – these insects are not bugs at all, but are actually beetles (and they are not all ladies.) They ... READ MORE
Category: Agriculture, Pests & Disease
The word “phytophagous” is an adjective that means “plant-eating,” and it’s typically used to describe arthropods that feed on the tissues of living plants, but not those that consume pollen or nectar. You’ve probably also heard ... READ MORE
Category: Agriculture, Crops, Pests & Disease, Wildlife
Between April and November, you might notice spike-tailed green worms (Figure 1) feasting on your tomato plants’ leaves and fruit. These voracious creatures ravaging your garden are caterpillars called tobacco or tomato hornworms. The caterpillars ... READ MORE
Category: Agriculture, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes, Pests & Disease, Pests & Disease, UF/IFAS, UF/IFAS Extension
Actually, yes! They may not make honey like pollinating bees do, but we still need them. Even though you might tend to think of wasps as pesky stinging insects, they do provide ecological benefits. Similar to bees, some species are helpful ... READ MORE
Category: Agriculture, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes, Natural Resources, Pests & Disease, Pests & Disease, UF/IFAS, UF/IFAS Extension, Work & Life
Welcome to the new online habitat, er, home for the University of Florida’s Bug Week! The UF/IFAS Web Team has designed this terrific new website, where you’ll find information about all the Bug Week 2016 activities, along with plenty ... READ MORE
Category: Agriculture, Home Landscapes, Natural Resources, Pests & Disease, Pests & Disease, Wildlife
Perhaps you've noticed that our Bug Week writings often contain Latin terms for bugs. For example, if we mention the common bed bug we’ll probably reference its scientific name, Cimex lectularius. Or when we talk about grasshoppers we might ... READ MORE
Category: Agribusiness, Agriculture, Conservation, Crops, Forests, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, Natural Resources, Pests & Disease, Pests & Disease, Water, Wildlife
You may have noticed branches covered in these strange structures (Figure 1) during the spring, typically in March. These are tents constructed by eastern tent caterpillars, the larval stage of a Lasiocampid moth—a hairy and golden-brown colored ... READ MORE
Category: Agriculture, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes, Natural Resources, Pests & Disease, Pests & Disease, UF/IFAS
The ladybug (Figure 1), or ladybird, is the common name given to beetles in the Coccinellidae family. This is misleading because not all ladybugs are ladies; they can be either female or male. It is difficult to determine the sex of a ladybug, ... READ MORE
Category: Agriculture, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes, Pests & Disease, Pests & Disease, UF/IFAS, UF/IFAS Extension