UF/IFAS Entomology and Nematology Department
The twospotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae, is a total glutton. Infamous for eating just about everything – more than 200 species of ornamental, vegetable and fruit crops – the twospotted spider mite is the most economically important species… Read More
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 play an important role in… Read More
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 bromeliads—or artificial ones with standing water—like… Read More
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… Read More
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 the term… Read More
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 are the larval… Read More
Welcome to another installment of Bug Week’s recurring movie review feature, “Regular-Sized Bugs on the Big Screen,” where our critics examine films that feature normal-sized arthropods (i.e. not radiation-spawned behemoths) in supporting roles. Here comes the first of… Read More
Welcome to another installment of “Regular-Sized Bugs on the Big Screen,” a series of Bug Week blog posts meant to tip the Bug Week Board of Critics’ hats to arthropods that appear alongside human actors in feature films…. Read More
Have you ever wondered how those sesame seeds got on your hamburger bun? Thanks to pollinating insects, sesame is one of the oldest cultivated crops in the world dating back to over 4000 years ago! Not only has… Read More
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… Read More
