News Stories - Page 59

CAES News
Plant Propagators Meeting
The University of Georgia Department of Horticulture will host hundreds of nursery operators, ornamental plant breeders, landscape designers and plant scientists Nov. 2-6 at the International Plant Propagators’ Society Southern Region of North America Annual Meeting.
Entomologist Brendan Hunt has joined the faculty of the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. He is based on the Griffin campus and his research focus is fire ant genetics. CAES News
Fire Ant Genetics
A newly-hired University of Georgia entomologist hopes to develop genetic resources to understand fire ant success in the southeastern United States. Ultimately, this research could lead to new methods to reduce the number of fire ants inflicting pain on humans and taking over lawns and pastures across Georgia.
This wasp, Vespula maculifrons, is also known as the Eastern yellow jacket.  It is one of the most common wasps in the Eastern United States. Their most distinguishing feature is the yellow and black stripes on their abdomen, in a pattern that differs between the queen, adult males, and adult females. They build nests in the ground or in stumps and logs. CAES News
Hornets and Yellow Jackets
This is the time of year that Extension agents receive numerous calls about yellow jackets, hornets and how to control them.
University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Agent James Morgan stumbled upon tawny crazy ants at an assisted living facility in Albany, Ga. “They're reddish in color, very tiny, and they run around and scurry really fast. And they don't march in a straight row like Argentine ants,” Morgan said. CAES News
Tawny Crazy Ant
The tawny crazy ant has made its way into Georgia for the first time. University of Georgia Extension agent James Morgan of Dougherty County discovered the ant—which originates from South America—on Aug. 15 and submitted a sample to the University of Georgia for identification.
Woolly hackberry aphid CAES News
Woolly Aphids
An aphid pest that came to Georgia two decades ago has some homeowners seeing “snow” falling from their hackberry trees and cleaning sticky goo off their cars.
Mosquitoes feed on sugar water in Mark Brown's endocrinology lab on UGA's Athens campus. CAES News
Mosquito season

Although the rate of mosquito-borne diseases has been low this summer, University of Georgia experts urge the public to continue to take caution during this last month of mosquito season.