Newsletter

NEWSLETTER
of the

Wisconsin Entomological Socie

Volume 6 Number 1 Dean B. Faber, Editor

August, 1978

CONTENTS:

Editor’s Notes 1
Notice 1
Forum 2
History of Wisconsin

Entomology 2
Articles 3
Publications of Interest 4

EDITOR’S NOTES :

This is my first effort ever as an editor and I’m not quite sure how to
begin. Perhaps a few lines telling you about myself would be in order. I
graduated from the University of Connecticut in May 1977 with a B.S. degree
in Biology. My main entomological interest is in the taxonomy and biology of
the scelionid wasps. Because several tribes of scelionids are exclusively
parasitic on spider eggs, this ties in neatly with my major non-entomo logical
interest (the taxonomy and biology of salticid spiders). Despite my lack of
experience I volunteered for the job of editor because I thought it would be
an enjoyable and broadening experience. I hope you’ll all bear with me as I
learn the ropes.

A letter arrived recently bearing greetings from our former editor Jim
Mertins and the latest installment (XIV) of the History of Wisconsin Entomology.
My thanks to Jim for his continuing interest in and contributions to the
newsletter. Speaking of which I would like to reiterate the often made request
for contributions from members. If you have entomological information which you
feel would be of general interest please feel free to contribute it to the
newsletter.

As many of you probably have learned, our president Bill Sieker suffered
a stroke during the month of June. I'm sure you’ll all join me in wishing him
a speedy and complete recovery.

NOTICE :

For Sale: Fine hand finished insect and spider photographs, mounted and
ready to frame. Representitives from most of your favorite orders, all in
natural settings, feeding, mating, etc. Ask about specific families, genera,
species. Black and white, $15. to $40. Clearance of un-mounted "seconds”, as-is,
from $3. Charles Behnke, Rt. 2 Box 152, Dodgeville, Wise. 53 533 , (608) 583-2893

FORUM:

I'd like to bring up the possibility of choosing a recognizable insect
to serve as the symbol of our society as a replacement for the current rather
stylized one. Our current symbol is rather difficult to assign to order.

We could choose one insect as a permanent symbol of the society, or use a
different insect each year, or whatever.

My first choice would be an odonate, perhaps an aeshnid or libelluid.
Wisconsin is a state with many lakes and rivers and a large odonate fauna.
Dragonflies are beneficial insects and a dragonfly would be a distinctive
and easily recognized symbol. Any comments on this would be welcommed.

Dean B. Faber

(This department will appear whenever there is material for it. Basically,

I see it as a place where opinions and suggestions can be stated about any
aspect of the society, its current status, or its goals. Make your views
about the society known! editor.)

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN ENTOMOLOGY - XIV
by James W. Mertins

Along with new programs in the 1960’s, some significant changes in
emphasis occurred in existing programs. Whereas, in the late 1950’s, insect
suppression with insecticides was an important aspect of the work of about
50 % of the research staff, by the mid-sixties, insecticides were important
to the work of less than 25 % of the research staff. For example. Prof. Norris’
initial attack on Dutch elm disease with systemic insecticides evolved into
physiological studies on symbiosis of bark beetles, fungi, bacteria, and tree
chemistry. When California encephalitis developed as a public health problem
in Wisconsin, Prof. DeFoliart phased out insecticide research on livestock
insects and expanded research on arboviruses. These and other moves were wise
at the time. Continued testing of insecticides had frequently become an
exercise in futility, and because of public attitudes and the lack of sufficient
alternate technologies there were more opportunities for developing integrated
pest suppression programs and the basics behind them.

Following Prof. Dicke in the chairmanship of the department. Dr. Gene
DeFoliart served from 1968 until late 1975. With a B.S. from Oklahoma State
University and the Ph. D. from Cornell, where he specialized in medical and
veterinary entomology from 1948-51, Dr. DeFoliart went first to the University
of Wyoming as an assistant professor in 1951. At the time of his departure
for Wisconsin in 1959, he held the rank of associate professor, and came to UW
with fine qualifications to assume responsibilities for work on pests of man
and animals.

One of several significant advancements during Chairman DeFoliart’ s tenure
was the acquisition of both a transmission electron microscope and a scanning
E.M. A special laboratory with darkroom facilities, etc, for the machines was
outfitted jointly with Plant Pathology in the basement of Russell Labs during

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1969? and in 1971 a new staff member , Dr. Stanley Carlson, took charge of
the laboratory. A second new staff member during the early 1970's was Dr.
Michael Karandinos, who arrived in 1970 as a visiting assistant professor in
insect ecology and population dynamics. He replaced Prof. John Medler, who
spent the years between 1968 and 1975 at the University of Ife in Nigeria
as Chief of Party for the University of Wisconsin-AID program there. Prof.
Karandinos' position was later put on a permanent basis, and after a year
back in Madison, Prof. Medler has recently departed for more overseas service
as Director of a MUCIA program in Jakarta, Indonesia, and approaching
retirement .

In 1976, Dr. G.M._Boush succeeded Prof. DeFoliart as Chairman of the
Department of Entomology after acting temporarily in that position for several
months. With the retirements of Profs. Shenefelt and Dicke in 1976 and 1977?
respectively, two new staff members were brought in to fill their positions;
Dr. Shenefelt retains Emeritus Professor status in the department. Dr. Robert
Jeanne arrived from Boston University, and is building a research program on
on the biology and behavior of social insects, especially vespid wasps. Dr.

B. Jane Harrington is the first woman faculty member in Entomology, and came
to Wisconsin from Seton Hall University in early 1977* She has taken over
direction of the Insectarium (now renamed the Insect Research Collection, ed.)
and initiated a research program on the taxonomy and biology of the Lygaeidae.

ARTICLES :

WISCONSIN 1978
THE YEAR OF THE MOSQUITO?

The major entomological news item in Wisconsin this summer has definitely
been dipteran! The consensus is that the mosquito problem has been about the
worst in memory for the month of July. "The situation has to be experienced to
be believed", quipped the Wisconsin Cooperative Pest Survey Bulletin of July
28, 1978.

The primary culprit has apparently been Aedes vexans , a quick reproducing
species that packs a real wallop. Fortunately this species hasn't been implicated
as a carrier of any organisms dangerous to humans.

The same cannot be said however for Aedes triseriatus . This mosquito is a
carrier of the LaCrosse strain of encephalitis virus. Twelve cases of enceph-
alitis in humans have been reported in the state by July 15 of this year, with
one resulting fatality. This is an unusually high number of cases for this
early in the summer. A typical yearly total for Wisconsin is about twenty cases.

Aedes triseriatus breeds strictly in tree holes in the wild, but has adapted
to standing water collected in such man-made objects as tin cans and old tires.
Due to a relative lack of breeding sites, A. triseriatus is fortunately less
common than A. vexans .

Although the probability of being bitten by an individual of A. triseriatus
carrying encephalitis virus is undoubtedly rather small, a few precautions are
advisable. First, limit the number of potential breeding sites for mosquitoes

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by emptying out any containers outdoors that may have standing water in them
for long periods. Second, if forced by necessity (as in gardening) or desire
(as in insect collecting) to be in mosquito infested areas consider wearing
a repellent. There is relatively little danger of contracting encephalitis,
but an ounce of prevention in this case isn't costly in time and effort.

HONEYBEE VOTED STATE INSECT

The WES NEWSLETTER Volume 6 Number 1 contained an article on the debate
over the choice of an official state insect. Here is the unfortunate conclu-
sion to the story.

Effective May 16, 1978 section 1.10 of the Wisconsin State statutes was
amended to make the honeybee the state's official insect. Economics overrules
reality again. The way the bill was handled before it even got out of committee
illustrates this.

A bill to make the honeybee Wisconsin's official state insect was submitted
by state Rep. Gervase Hephner (D-Chilton) on March 8, 1977, "at the request of
the Wisconsin Honey Producers Association, Inc.". An identical bill had been
introduced on February 2, 1977 by Rep Richard Matty (R.-Crivitz) on behalf of
a class of third grade scoolchildren from Marinette, Wise. This was two months
before the Hephner bill was submitted. The Assembly Agriculture Committee
endorsed the Hephner bill 12-0 despite the primacy of the Matty bill, and
despite that according to Matty "it is the same bill, word for word.". The
Assembly Agriculture Committee also discarded an ammendment proposed by Hephner
that the state insect be chosen by a vote of the state's gradeschool children.

On March 14, 1978 the assembly voted the honeybee Wisconsin's official
state insect by a vote of 97-1. An ammendment to make the honeybee the state
domestic insect and the monarch butterfly the official state insect was voted
down by a large majority. On March 31, 1978 the senate supported the assembly's
choice. An amendment by Sen. David Berger (D. -Milwaukee) which proposed that
the honeybee be named the official state domestic insect and the dragonfly be
named the official state wildlife insect was rejected without debate.

The honeybee is about as unique to Wisconsin as the domestic dog. Wisconsin
is fifth in the U.S. in honey production not first. The other official Wisconsin
state symbols (muskellunge , badger, galena, dairy cow, etc.) are all things
unique to or at least characteristic of our state. The honeybee symbolizes
nothing. It is truly unfortunate that with a host of other possibilities,
the lawmakers of our state made such an unrepresentative choice.

PUBLICATIONS OF INTEREST :

The Insects. Readings from Scientific American
Thomas Eisner and Edward 0. Wilson, eds. 1977.

352 pages, 325 illustrations. W.H. Freeman and Company,

San Francisco. $7.95, softbound.

This collection of articles from Scientific American will be of interest

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to entomologists at any level from beginner to expert. It examines the
factors contributing to the insects achieving their position as the dominant
group of terrestrial animals. Among the myriad topics considered are: insect
flight muscle, juvenile hormones, polarized light navigation, melanism in
moths, the interrelationships of butterflies and plants, and slavery in ants.
The articles are written in the inimitable Scientific American style,
presenting the subject to the reader in nontechnical vocabulary, but never
talking down to him. In addition, the illustrations are generally excellent.
At a cost this low this fine book is within everyone's price range.

The Mayflies of North and Central America.

George F. Edmunds, Jr., Steven L. Jensen, and Lewis Berner. 1976.

330 pages, 132 figures. University of Minnesota Press,

Minneapolis. $28.30, hardbound.

This will be the definitive work on North American Ephemeroptera for a very
long time to come. The book contains extensive information on collecting and
preparation techniques, keys to genus for both nymphs and adults of all North
American genera, and descriptions of each genus. In addition there is a section
on habitat and life history information for both nymphs and adults for each
genus. The book has excellent illustrations and a well thought out layout.

A must for anyone seriously interested in aquatic insects.

Carabid Beetles in Their Environments, a Study on

Habitat Selection by Adaptations.

H. U. Thiele. 1977. Springer-Verlag.

This book is about carabids, but would be interesting reading to anyone
trying to understand how any group of animals fits into its environment.

Included among the topics covered are: adaptive value of morphological variation,
interspecific and intraspecific interaction (competition, aggregation, parasites,
predators), ecological aspects of activity patterns, climatic factors
influencing distribution, and ecological aspects of evolution. Regardless of
what group of insects interest the reader, this book is ’full of information
which will make him ask, "I wonder about this with respect to the . ...idae?" .

Arachnida 2nd edition. Theodore Savory. 1977. 340 pages, 197 figures.
Academic Press, New York, London, San Francisco.

Anyone interested in learning about the second largest class in the animal
kingdom couldn't hope to find a better introduction than this book. It spans
the entire subject, from phylogeny to biochemistry, from embryology to
zoogeography. There are sections which discuss all facets of arachnid biology
for the class as a whole, and then a section is devoted to a thorough discussion
of each of the arachnid orders. This book is unique in both the breadth of its
coverage of the subject and in that it gives an equally detailed account of
all the arachnid orders.

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V

WISCONSIN ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY
MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION

Please Print:

Last Name
Address:

Street

Organization represented (if any)

Title or Occupation

First Name

City State Zip

Phone: (include area code)

Individual membership ($2.00 per year)

________ Organization membership ($10.00 per year)

Sustaining membership ($5.00 per year)

Patron membership ($25.00 or more per year)

General Interest Area

Aquatic Insects Collecting and/or Taxonomy

4-H or Scout Member Insect Photography

Extension Worker Physiology

Life History, Biology, & Behavior Apiculture

Other Pest Control

Specify

Specific Interests (Order, Family, Genus) .

If you are an authority for certain Insect taxa, would you be willing to

Identify Wisconsin specimens for members? Yes No

***************

Make checks payable to Wisconsin Entomological Society and mail to the
Treasurer, Wis. Entomol. Soc., Dept, of Entomology, 237 Russell Labs., U. Wise.,
Madison, Wise. 53706 .