Next Job, Please

We interrupt our regularly-scheduled programming to bring you this important message: I need a new job. One that let’s me use my knowledge, one that let’s me use my skills, one that pays enough so that I can pay my bills….Oh, sorry, I got confused with that Huey Lewis & the News song, “I Want a New Drug.” Well, the basic premise is the same: I would like my next career position to be as rewarding as the last one at the University of Massachusetts.

Ideally, I would like to be at the interface between the scientific community and the general public. I am nothing if not creative and skilled in communications. Scientific journalism, natural history interpretation, and related fields do not seem to be valued here in the United States, however, and such positions are difficult to come by. There is great reliance on docents and other volunteers at museums and parks for example. Most of the professional naturalists I know are behind desks, pushing pencils, and training volunteers to do the actual public programs.

Still, I am cautiously optimistic that I can find a niche. I do need to develop additional professional networks, though. Currently, my professional network consists mostly of entomologists, and I wouldn’t trade that for the world. I need to start befriending more writers and media professionals, however, if I am to advance to a point where I can reach a much larger audience with my message of tolerance and appreciation of the natural world.

I already owe a debt of gratitude to Gwen Pearson for connecting me with a project that promises to take me in the general direction I want to go, and that will help supplement whatever regular income I eventually obtain. Thanks also to Troy Bartlett and Joe Clapp, who understand where I want to go and keep providing job leads. I welcome even more of those potential opportunities from the rest of you. Don’t hesitate to ask me for the same for yourself, either.

Thank you for your indulgence. We will return you shortly to your regularly-scheduled episodes of Bug Eric.

All Grown Up

I have no idea whether she is the same individual that I introduced in ”The University Roach” back in November, but on Monday, December 14, I finally spotted an adult female brown-banded roach on the floor in my lab. Since the first sighting I have learned a little more about the species, too.

Ok, maybe what I really learned is just how much we collectively don’t know, like exactly where this species came from in the first place. My initial research concluded that Supella longipalpa is probably native to Africa. According to the second edition of How to Know the Grasshoppers, Cockroaches and Their Allies, by Jacques R. Helfer (Wm. C. Brown Company Publishers, Dubuque, Iowa, 1972), the brown-banded cockroach was known only from Florida from 1903 until at least 1917. The text further states that the species was introduced to Arizona in 1933. An asterisk footnote recognizes that “Supella longipalpa (F.) has been very successful in extending its range and has now turned up in every state.”

The homeland of this species is disputed in Stephen A. Marshall’s tome, Insects: Their Natural History and Diversity (Firefly Books, Richmond Hill, Ontario, 2006). The author states that this species is native to India, and that it is becoming increasingly common in households throughout North America.

David George Gordon, in his highly-readable book The Compleat Cockroach (Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, California, 1996), agrees with the African origin of the species, adding that it wasn’t until troops returned from World War II that brown-bandeds really made inroads in the U.S., and that “By 1967, brownbandeds were reported in forty-seven of the forty-eight contiguous states.”

The Cockroach Combat Manual, by Dr. Austin M. Frishman and Arthur P. Schwartz (William Morrow and Company, Inc., New York, New York, 1980) gives a more detailed description of the African scenario, indicating that this species got to Florida via Cuba (1892), arriving in Key West and Miami in 1903. No word on whether it fled Cuba due to political instability. This book also names Vermont as the sole state to be free of this pest as of 1967.

All authorities do seem to agree that this roach is most likely to be found inside furniture and electrical appliances. They have a fondness for starchy materials, too, and will munch on the paste used in bookbinding, and also on wallpaper paste. Body fluids from molting and deceased specimens can sometimes cause short circuits in televisions and other electronic equipment. Maybe there really is a bug in your computer….

Farewell, UMass

Today was my last day at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Actually, last Friday was my “official” last day, but I wanted to tidy up before I left (and make up for the long lunches I took on the few nice days we had over the summer). I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the many people who made life on campus so pleasant during my stay.

The bureaucracy associated with new employment can be a bit overwhelming, but the ladies in the department office made things go very smoothly. Thank you to Linda, Roxanne, Lori, and Carolyn for expediting everything from my very own mailbox to the installation of a phone in the lab, and rectifying a discrepancy in my wage. You are all so friendly, too.

Ironically, I only met the Chief Investigative Officer for my lab, and the co-originator of the project I worked on, once, when I first arrived. Still, I am deeply indebted to Kevin McGarigal for providing me this employment opportunity when I needed it most. Thank you, Kevin.

Scott Jackson, co-founder of the project and my primary administrative contact, went out of his way to be a good friend as well as colleague. Given his position and responsibilities, he never appears stressed out in the least. Thanks, Scott, for setting such a great example.

The last thing Scott did was to take myself and a few others to lunch as a thank you for the work we did in the field and in the lab. Among those so honored were Charley Eiseman, who I introduced in “The Art of Insect Tracking,” and Kasey Rolih, who has been an amazing field leader for several years. She was exceedingly patient with me when she visited the lab, too. Thanks for helping me conquer the formula for converting 95% ethanol to 70%. Kasey’s husband, Brad Compton, is the guru behind the computer modeling and data evaluation for this project, since its inception. He was always willing to help solve my own computer issues, or just pause to chat about fly fishing or tell an amusing story. You never failed to make my day, Brad.

The people I owe the most to are the three women pictured here. From left to right: Jennifer Connolly, Shelley Raymond, and Theresa Portante.

Theresa, a Graduate Research Assistant, was my first and most constant contact. She hired me, helped me to find housing, and put up with me through the “growing pains” that go with any new job. Her organizational and people-management skills are amazing. She never asks anyone to do anything she wouldn’t do herself, and meets every challenge with enthusiasm and a smile. You are going to go far, Theresa, and I am honored to call you a friend and colleague.

Jennifer Connolly was exceptionally busy in the field, but her visits to the lab were always welcome. I wish I had gotten to know you better, Jennifer, but it was always a joy to see you.

Shelley Raymond spent the wet, soggy summer in the field, but I guarantee you she never complained. She spent the bulk of the fall in the lab and I felt very fortunate to have her company there. Shelley is one of the hardest workers I’ve ever met, and toiled away at some very dirty, redundant, and, well, “fragrant” tasks processing samples taken over the summer. She never has a gripe, is always friendly, and has a great wit and sense of humor. She’ll be leaving soon for new digs in Boston and I wish her the very best. Anybody in Boston would be nuts to pass up the chance to hire this woman. If she, Jennifer, and Theresa are examples of young people today, the collective future of our society looks very bright.

I know there are people I’m leaving out. People like Dr. Paige Warren and her grad students Suzanna and Rachel and Noah Charney….and Meagan down the hall who introduced me to her own circle of friends. I could not have asked for a better situation here. Thank you to all, you are friends for life.

Fairyflies

’Tis the season for sugar plum fairies, but I have been delighted to find the insect equivalent of those mythical figures among the specimens in the emergence trap and pitfall trap samples I’ve been sorting through the last six months.

The so-called “fairyflies” are actually ultra-tiny parasitic wasps in the family Mymaridae. They are among the very smallest of insects. Members of one genus check in at a mere 0.18 mm. As larvae, all mymarids are egg parasites of other insects, including aquatic ones in some cases. That might account for their presence in the emergence traps which were floating on the surface of water in various wetland habitats.

The most amazing feature of these diminutive hymenopterans is their wings.

Paddle-shaped with no veins, they are also fringed with long hairs. The hind wings are stalked, and this is one character used to identify them.

There are 120 species of fairyflies in North America, in twenty-eight genera. Most are well under two millimeters long. I had never seen them before I started looking at the pitfall trap samples. I initially dismissed the specimen below as something other than a mymarid because it was relatively huge for that family, about three millimeters or so.

It has been a joy to learn that the world of microscopic insects and arachnids is just as enchanting and beautiful as the macroscopic world of arthropods that are over five millimeters. Happy holidays, folks; may you, too, find happiness in small packages.