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Category Archives: News
Denali Bioblitz, June 26-29, 2014
Denali National Park and Preserve will be hosting a multi-day bioblitz focused on arthropods from July 26-29, 2014. On Saturday (July 26th), scientists will lead citizen science survey activities in the front-country (i.e., in areas accessible by trails near the park entrance), including demonstrations of collecting techniques, and viewing and discussion of specimens at the park visitor center. The following three days (July 27-29) will be based at the MSLC Field Camp near Teklanika Campground at mile 29 on the park road (with accommodations in tent cabins). This will provide opportunities for a limited number of scientists, students, and other registered participants to collect arthropods in less accessible areas of the park.
Please contact Jessica Rykken at jrykken@oeb.harvard.edu if you are interested in participating in the bioblitz as a scientist, student, or other interested entomologist!
2013 Forest Health Conditions Report
The text below was taken verbatim from the Forest Service’s Region 10 (Alaska Region) website at http://www.fs.usda.gov/main/r10/forest-grasslandhealth/. The report is available at http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprd3797075.pdf.
The 2013 Forest Health Conditions Report is available! This report reviews our current knowledge of forest health in Alaska. Its purpose is to help resource professionals, land managers, and other decision makers identify and monitor existing and potential forest health risks and hazards. The report is based on data collected in annual aerial detection surveys, ground surveys, permanent plot monitoring efforts, follow-ups to public requests, and input, and early detection work. Emphasis is given to damaging agents observed in 2013. Readers need to be mindful that this is not a complete survey of the 127 million forested acres in Alaska. The report is organized around the status of four categories of damaging agents: insect pests, diseases, noninfectious disorders, and invasive plants.
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner: Lessons from Alaska butterfly expert Kenelm Philip will live on
Alaska Dispatch: Alaska’s leading expert on butterflies, Ken Philip leaves legacy for Smithsonian
In Memorial: Kenelm W. Philip
Ken Philip, 29.Aug.2006.
Kenelm W. Philip, 82, Fairbanks Alaska, passed away in his home on March 13, 2014.
Ken moved to Fairbanks in 1965 and established the Alaska Lepidoptera Survey. Over the years, Ken managed over 600 volunteer collectors and amassed roughly 80,000 specimens, the second largest arctic/boreal collection of butterflies in the world (second only to the Canadian National Collection).
Ken was an avid photographer, reader, and loved classical music. He was always helpful and happy to invite visitors into his home to see the butterfly collection.
He will be sorely missed by all who knew him.
Defining Clepsis penetralis Razowski (Tortricidae) using morphology and molecules: a widespread but overlooked North American species
In this article appearing in the current issue of the Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society, the authors used morphology and molecular data to investigate the relationship of two morphologically similar species (Clepsis penetralis and C. peritana), finding strong support for recognizing these as two distinct species.
Citation:
Kruse, J. K. and J. A. Powell. 2014. Defining Clepsis penetralis Razowski (Tortricidae) using morphology and molecules: a widespread but overlooked North American species J. Lepid. Soc. 68:25-30.
Alaska Dispatch: Bedbugs persist, bills pile up at Anchorage’s Big Timber Motel
Materials Request: Genus Phlaeopterus and related taxa (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Omaliinae)
A Phlaeopterus specimen.
Logan Mullen is undertaking a taxonomic revision of the rove beetle genus Phlaeopterus for his M.S. thesis at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He is in need of specimens of this genus and of closely related taxa. He is especially seeking freshly collected material to use for DNA extraction, but specimen loans or donations of any kind are greatly appreciated. You may contact him with any questions at: ljmullen2@alaska.edu or (507) 475-0732.
Distribution: northwestern U.S. and Canada, rocky mountain and pacific coast states and provinces, into southeast and central Alaska.
Identification: reddish-brown, brown, or black. Pair of ocelli (with some exceptions), 3-9mm in length, truncated elytra longer than that of a typical rove beetle.
Collection: by hand or pitfall traps at edges of snowfields, streams, and lakes. Often alpine. Under rocks, in moist moss and other detritus. Can be found foraging for windblown insects on snowfield surface.
Preservation: vials of 95-100% ethyl-alcohol, stored in freezer soon after collecting if possible.
Logan’s original materials request flyer is available as a pdf here.
Notes on the biology of the cixiid planthopper Cixius meridionalis (Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea)
Published yesterday in the journal Psyche, this note details observations of a cixiid hopper that feeds on roots of several vascular plants in a black spruce muskeg.
Fifth instar C. meridionalis nymph feeding on a root of Empetrum nigrum in a terrarium.
Citation:
Bowser, M. L. 2014. Notes on the biology of the cixiid planthopper Cixius meridionalis (Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea). Psyche. 2014:769021. doi:10.1155/2014/769021