Canadian Insect News

 
A woman sprays for mosquito larvae in Regina. In Winnipeg, many may have welcomed this year’s early snow melt, but now they are bracing for its consequence: An early mosquito invasion. The insects are slated to buzz into Winnipeg sooner than usual, so the city’s insect control branch this week launched its larviciding activities, working to kill them before they reach the flying adult, biting stage. Apr. 27, 2012: (National Post) Winnipeg is Bracing for an Early Mosquito Invasion - Winnipeggers might have welcomed this year’s early snow melt, but now they are bracing for its consequence: An early mosquito invasion. The insects are slated to buzz into Winnipeg sooner than usual, so the city’s insect control branch this week launched its  ..... (read more)
Apr. 26, 2012: (NRC) Insects and Diseases - Native insects and diseases play an essential ecological role in Canada’s forests. By consuming trees and other plant material, forest insects and micro-organisms contribute to healthy change and regeneration in forest ecosystems. They help renew forests by removing old or otherwise susceptible trees, recycling  ..... (read more)
The strawberries-and-cream Frappuccino at Starbucks contains an extract from cochineal, which is used to give the beverage a reddish tinge. (Paul Sakuma/Associated Press) Mar. 29, 2012: (CBC News) Bug Extract in Starbucks Touted as Healthy Alternative - Starbucks is listening to the consumer push for more natural foods.  By using an extract made from the ground-up bodies of insects.  This fact has gone viral after a vegan barista who works for Starbucks in the U.S. sent a picture of the ingredient list for their strawberries ..... (read more)
Photo courtesy AgriCan Mar. 22, 2012: (Vauxhall Advance) Be on the Lookout for Beetles and Midges - While there has not been substantial crop damage that has occurred from a couple of prominent pests found in southern Alberta, vigilance is still needed when  combating the cereal leaf beetle and the wheat midge. “Irrigated wheat is nearly-perfect conditions for wheat midge. We ..... (read more)
A record warm winter in most of Canada means that mosquitoes could be on the wing earlier than usual this year in many provinces. (James Gathany/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Canadian Press) Mar. 21, 2012: (CBC News) Mild Winter Weather will get bugs buzzing sooner - The onset of summer means longer days, warm, breezy nights — and a possible onslaught of winged pests dive-bombing onto the heads of Canadians. A record mild winter and projected warm spring means black flies and mosquitoes could be showing up in our backyards earlier  ..... (read more)
Photo courtesy nrcan Mar. 12, 2012:  (southwestern) Emerald Ash Borer Getting Closer to Bruce County - The emerald ash borers has been spotted close to Bruce County and forestry technician Ken Goldsmith says now is the time to plan for the day when it arrives. The highly destructive insect, which has been making its way north from Michigan where it was first discovered  ..... (read more)
Photo courtesy CNHP Jan. 30, 2012: (Grainews) Warm Weather, no Snow Mixed Blessings for Prairie Insects - Insect populations overwintering in Western Canada are likely enjoying the warmer-than-normal temperatures seen across the Prairies this winter, but the lack of snow cover could lead to increased mortality, if and when the mercury does drop.  Environment Canada ..... (read more)
A gypsy moth caterpillar walks along a tree branch Tuesday;June 12;2007;in Trenton;N.J. In New Jersey;following a warm;dry spring;just the kind of weather that can make the insects thrive;this year's infestation has been called one of the largest in recent years. That state's agriculture department expects more than 200,000 acres to be defoliated this year;up from 125,000 last year Jan. 20, 2012: (Global News) Canada lags behind in studying alien species and climate change: study - Spurred on by climate change, alien species are invading Canada, but researchers and policy makers aren’t paying attention, according to a new report.  The report, published in Environmental Reviews, surveyed other academic work and found ..... (read more)
The Asian longhorned beetle has already infested thousands of trees near Vaughan and woodbridge. Jan. 10, 2012: (thestar.com) Ontario’s Maple Trees Threatened by Longhorn Beetles, Environment Watchdog Warns - The iconic maple tree is at risk in Ontario unless the province does more to protect the species from the twin threats of long-horned beetles and climate change, says Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller.  While the beetles ..... (read more)
Biologist Adrianne Rice holds a pine beetle at the Northern Forestry Centre in Edmonton on Friday, April 4, 2008. (John Ulan / THE CANADIAN PRESS) Nov. 20, 2011: (CTV) Pine Beetles Defying Anti-infestation Efforts in Alberta - Mountain pine beetles are still thriving in parts of Alberta and are spreading east despite $300 million and years of effort to thwart the tiny tree-killers. A new generation of bugs took flight this summer, with some landing in mixed boreal forest close to the Saskatchewan boundary. ..... (read more)
The brown spruce longhorn beetle destroyed thousands of trees in Halifax's Point Pleasant Park. CBC Sept. 1, 2011: (CBC News) Brown Spruce Longhorn Beetle Found in N.B. - The presence of the brown spruce longhorn beetle near a campground within the Kouchibouguac National Park in eastern New Brunswick was confirmed Wednesday by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.  It was the centimetre-long beetle's first appearance in North America outside of  ..... (read more)
From his office at the Experimental Farm, Dr. Owen Lonsdale is in charge of the 16 million specimens in the Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes. Aug. 28, 2011: (Ottawa Citizen) One in a Million: The Entomologist - For two years, Owen Lonsdale did his post-doctoral research at the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., where an entire floor was devoted to flies, which, he neatly explains, are his specialty because "they're the coolest animals on the planet. ..... (read more)

Aug. 31, 2011: (Calgary Herald) Alberta Pine Beetle not Fire Bug - Yet - An infestation of the dreaded mountain pine beetle into Alberta’s vast northern forests was nowhere near the areas where wildfires devastated communities and brought oil and gas operations to a halt in May, according to government sources.  Alberta Sustainable Resource  ..... (read more)
Aug. 19, 2011: (Edmonton Journal) There's a New Bee in Town - A buzz is circulating about a new species of bumble-bee, bombus moderatus, that has been spotted in backyards across Edmonton.  The fuzzy pollinator has a distinctive white bottom, and usually prefers northern and mountainous regions. Although typically found in Banff, northern B.C., the Yukon  ..... (read more)
Mike Jenkins, a biological sciences technician with the City of Edmonton, examines a jar of mosquito larvae. Aug. 11, 2011: (National Post) Edmontonians do Not Welcome Their New Insect Overlords - Choking hordes of mosquitoes. Torrents of excrement-spewing aphids. After enduring an early summer plagued with downpours, Edmontonians are grappling with a 20-year storm of flying insects.  The insect clouds were so thick at Commonwealth Stadium ..... (read more)
Aug. 8, 2011: (Edson Leader) Beware of Lyme Disease - There have been no further reports of Lyme disease causing ticks since five ticks in the Edmonton and Calgary regions were discovered in mid-July to have the bacteria, Borrelia burgdorferi, which causes the disease. However Alberta Health and Wellness officials recommend that people take extra ..... (read more)
The mormorated stink bug Aug. 4, 2011: (London Free Press) Stink Bug Sizes Up Ontario - A voracious, invasive insect is closing in on Ontario crops and homes, having sucked its way through millions of dollars of produce in one American region last year alone.  The brown marmorated stink bug has descended by the hundreds of thousands in parts of the U.S. It has a wide diet of about ..... (read more)
Bertha armyworms are not a big problem in Alberta this year. July 21, 2011: (Grainews) Alberta - Good News on Bugs, Bad on Disease - In his latest Call of the Land weekly interview, Alberta Agriculture pest specialist Scott Meers has mostly good news on insect pressure in the province.  Meers says four weeks into the six-week monitoring period for bertha armyworms, trap counts are "really low" with one exception  ..... (read more)
The German yellowjacket is no more dangerous than any other wasp found in this area, but scientists are tracking its migration, as it was found in St. John’s for the first time two years ago. July 14, 2011: (Western Star) - Scientists Studying Migration of German Yellowjacket - DEER LAKE — Summer months mean swimming, barbecues and insects — lots and lots of insects. This summer, people in Deer Lake have noticed some interesting new bugs they have not readily identified.  The German yellowjacket might be one of those rare insects. ..... (read more)
June 16, 2011: (Edmonton Sun) Bug Mystery Solved - The Sun asked, and you answered. Well, argued.  But, now we're clearing things up.  The unidentified flying object gracing the Edmonton Sun's website Wednesday is, in fact, a moth.  A hummingbird clearwing moth, to be exact.  If you've never heard of it, don't be embarrassed, we hadn't either.  Edmonton Sun ..... (read more)
Cinara aphids, pictured here, have been found in unusual numbers this month on spruce trees in St. Albert. The big, but mostly harmless bugs suck sap from trees, stunting their growth. Photo Courtesy Nat Can. June 11, 2011: (St Alberta Gazette) Big Bugs Stalk City - Crimson swarms and big black monsters are swarming some local trees and lawns. But don’t worry, says the city — these bugs are mostly harmless. City staffers started getting calls about cinara aphids on spruce a few weeks ago, says city arborist Kevin Veenstra. Initially spotted by students around Elmer S. ..... (read more)
Canada is the 12th largest honey producer in the world, and exported $70 million of honey in 2008. (Shutterstock.com) May 21, 2011: (Edmonton Sun) Those Black & Yellow Insects are Dropping in Numbers -  May 29th is the day that over 140 municipalities across Canada will be celebrating the "Day of the Honey Bee." The celebration is the brainchild of Clinton Shane Ekdahl, a beekeeper in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan who feels it's important to acknowledge the critical roll  ..... (read more)
Apr. 4, 2011: (UofA) Mountain Pine Beetles on the move to Maritimes - A University of Alberta-led research team has determined that the mountain pine beetle has invaded jack pine forests in Alberta, opening up the possibility for an infestation stretching east across the Prairies all the way to the Atlantic. A group of U of A tree biologists and geneticists ..... (read more)
Photo courtesy BC Government Apr. 4, 2011: (e! Science News) Mountain Pine Beetle Marching East From Alberta - (Edmonton) A University of Alberta-led research team has determined that the mountain pine beetle has invaded jack pine forests in Alberta, opening up the possibility for an infestation that could stretch across the Prairies and keep moving east towards the Atlantic. A group ..... (read more)
Mar. 23, 2011: (Record-Gazette) Bees – How Sweet the Sound: Part 2 - As we learned during Part One of the Bees -- how sweet the sound, bees are so valuable, in so many ways, to human beings. But for humans to benefit, the magnificent insects must be housed and well looked after, never to be ignored, nor forgotten. Enter bee caretakers -- beekeepers.  Beekeepers ..... (read more)
Mar. 28, 2011: (Science Centric) Tree Resin the Key Evidence of Current and Historic Insect Invasions - A University of Alberta-led research team has discovered that insects that bore into trees as long ago 90 million years, or as recently as last summer, leave a calling card that's rich with information. The information is contained in the resin found ..... (read more)
Courtesy of www.saulttourism.com Mar. 17, 2011: (Sault Star) Great Lakes Forestry Centre able to Study More Insects in Retrofitted Area - The fight against invasive species is about to intensify. A nearly one-year multi-million-dollar retrofit of 16,000 square-feet of existing Great Lakes Forestry Centre floor space should be "substantially completed" by the end of March and a few ..... (read more)
Mar. 16, 2011: (Record-Gazette) Bees – How Sweet the Sound - Bees – honeybees the perpetuators of so many beautiful and necessary things in life – flowers – food. They have been in our part of North America – northern Alberta for, perhaps 100 years. But, bees and their worth have been noted for centuries – not as long in the Peace Country, but in places far ..... (read more)
Mar. 10, 2011: (Globe & Mail) Honeybee Colonies are Collapsing, but not all Hope is Lost - The global food crisis has prompted experts to point the finger at everything from stressed farmland to high oil prices to the impact of futures markets. Now a United Nations report has raised another red flag for the future of food production: the plight of honeybees. ..... (read more)
Mar. 10, 2011: (Winnipeg Free Press) Province Declares War on Bedbugs - The province will unveil its $770,000 battle plan against bedbugs today to enlist Manitobans of every stripe to get the upper hand on the pests that have infested many homes and businesses across the province.  The government will institute a bedbug website and hotline and put together a  ..... (read more)
Mar. 3, 2011: (Edmonton Sun) Province Ready for Pine Beetle Battle - The tiny mountain pine beetle has cost Alberta taxpayers $255 million since 2005 and another $8 billion is on the line. The province this year plans to cut and burn a record 170,000 infested pines in west-central Alberta as the battle against the tree-killing pest continues, according to figures ..... (read more)
Jan. 24, 2011: (e! Science News) Genome of Blue Stain Fungus Evolved to Bypass Tree Defense in Mountain Pine Beetle Epidemic - The genome of the fungus that helps mountain pine beetles infect and kill lodgepole pines has been decoded in a University of British Columbia study. Also known as blue stain fungus for the stain it leaves ..... (read more)
Alberta conducts an annual pine-beetle mortality count; above taking a drill sample from a tree in the Willmore Wilderness Area. Photo by G. Southham. Nov. 9, 2010: (Vancouver Sun) Alberta Slowly Winning Pine-Beetle Battle - Alberta’s forests have received a temporary reprieve in the battle with their most voracious enemy. Recent ground and aerial surveys show the mountain pine beetle’s progress through the province’s coniferous woodlands has slowed considerably from last year.  The province says  ..... (read more)
Oct. 19, 2010: (Cda Post) Low Value Definitive's: Beneficial Insects - They skitter, scamper, and sometimes sting; we call them bugs for our own reasons. But, as any veteran gardener will tell you, one person’s pest is another person’s helper. In 2007, Canada Post paid tribute to the beneficial insects that roam Canada’s gardens and marshes with a set of ..... (read more)
Sept. 28, 2010: (CBC) VIDEO: Meet Edmonton bug guy Peter Heule - No need to be afraid of the creepy crawlies. The bug expert at the Royal Alberta Museum, Peter Heule, shares his love of insects with the CBC's David Gerow in a new CBC News segment, The Heart of Edmonton. ..... (see video)
Georges Brossard: "I dream about them, I eat them - I love bugs" Apr. 5, 2010: (BBC) The Canadian Insect Collector Who Eats His Specimens -  Georges Brossard has spent the last 35 years in passionate pursuit of insects - sleeping among them and even eating the odd cricket or ant. The dedicated collector spends six months a year travelling the globe collecting specimens for "insect museums" known as insectariums,  ..... (read more)
John Swann, right, and Robert Longair are working on the U of C’s collection of 1.5 million insect specimens. / Photo: Ken Bendiktsen Feb. 10, 2010 (UToday) Bug Collection Yields New Discoveries - Look and you will find—that could be the motto of John Swann, recently appointed to manage the insect collection at the University of Calgary.  The collection houses an estimated 1.5 million insect specimens, gathered by researchers and students over the last  several years, but only  ..... (read more)
Aug. 11, 2008: (UofA News Archive) A Bug's Life ... In a Bubble -
Edmonton - Hundreds of insect species live mainly underwater, but how do they breathe? University of Alberta researcher Morris Flynn has completed a study to find out how these species are able to remain underwater without drowning. Turns out, many bugs create their own waterproof bubbles to help  ..... (read more)
   
         
 

 
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