Current Student News

Entomology Student Discovers New Bee Species in Dominica

May 10, 2016 by Rob Williams

Shelby Kilpatrick in front of a building. Submitted photo. — Shelby Kilpatrick. Submitted photo.

Shelby Kilpatrick’s experience studying abroad in Dominica has led to a very exciting and memorable learning experience as she discovered a new species of halictid bees during a recent trip to the country in 2015.

What turned out to be an insect collecting and identification study for Kilpatrick, a junior Entomology major, ended up being part of the study that was featured in a paper by Jason Gibbs of Michigan State University and a species being named in her honor of her new discovery.

The paper titled Bees of the family Halictidae, Thomson, 1869 from Dominica, Lesser Antilles (Hymenoptera: Apoidea), was recently published in the European Journal of Taxonomy.

Kilpatrick’s discovery was a separate study, but was featured in the paper, which recognized total of 11 species of halictid bees and also recognized seven newly discovered species, which included Lasioglossum (Dialictus) kalinago sp. nov., L. (D.) dominicense sp. nov., L. (D.) kilpatrickae sp. nov., L. (Habralictellus) roseauense sp. nov., Sphecodes diablotinus sp. nov., S. albifacies sp. nov. and Habralictus antillarus sp. nov., and Microsphecodes dominicanus.

Kilpatrick said that her research work helped her to expand her knowledge of bee morphology, taxonomy, and behavior and will help to contribute more valuable information about bee species in Dominica and would help future entomologists and students studying abroad to understand the biodiversity and potentially expand on the project.

“Entomologists and future students studying abroad can use the information to identify bees on the island and potentially build on my project, as well as with their own studies,” she said.

Kilpatrick heard about this opportunity to study the bees after interviewing for the Dominica trip with Dr. Woolley and talking to Dr. Gibbs in 2014. She said that Gibbs was interested in examining the halictid specimens and needed someone to help him obtain additional bees from the island.

“It sounded like a great opportunity for me to learn more about a group of bees that I was less familiar with as well as contribute to meaningful research,” she said.

Kilpatrick enjoyed studying and collecting insects and that discovering these new bee species was exciting and an amazing experience.

“Collecting insects and studying them is one of my passions. I had always thought that it would be amazing to discover a new species, but never expected that I would,” she said. “I was thrilled to learn that the bees I had collected represented new species. I was also greatly honored when Dr. Gibbs chose to name one of the new bee species after me and could hardly believe it.”

She said that the Dominica study abroad was great and she learned about collecting insects and gained a better understanding of what it takes in a field research career.

“Studying abroad in Dominica had several positive impacts on my academic study. I am interested in pursuing a career in entomology, especially as it relates to agriculture and natural resources research,” Kilpatrick said. “The hands on field research experience that I gained as a result of this study abroad program are invaluable.”

Kilpatrick will definitely be applying what she had learned in Dominica to her upper level courses and will help her in her future studies.

“This opportunity will direct my future studies at Texas A&M University and ultimately my career and future life,” she said. “I would highly recommend studying abroad to any student who is considering it and has the opportunity to do so.”

Hewlett Receives COALS Senior Merit Award

April 27, 2016 by Rob Williams

Jeremy Hewlett with Dr. Mark Hussey — Jeremy Hewlett. right, with Dr. Mark A. Hussey – Vice Chancellor and Dean for Agriculture and Life Sciences. Photo by College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Congratulations to senior Entomology major Jeremy Hewlett as he received the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ Senior Merit Award during the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Spring Convocation.

Hewlett is a member of the Texas A&M Undergraduate Entomology Student Organization and works in Dr. Micky Eubanks’ lab studying the ant-aphid mutualisms and how to use them in controlling other pests while increasing crop yield.

He also participated in certification classes and group sailing activities in the American Sailing Association and the Kemah Sailing Club in 2011-2012 and was involved with the Aircraft Owner and Pilot Association from 2008-2014. He also was a volunteer software developer from 2012 and was involved in the SANS GIAC Certified Intrusion Analyst Advisory Board from 2001-2005.

Hewlett received three awards during his college career, including the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society in 2013 and the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society in 2014, as well as receiving the Houston Community College System’s Chemistry Student of the Year in 2013.

The Senior Merit Award is the highest award that is given to an undergraduate by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. To be eligible, students must be projected to graduate during the 2016 calendar year.

Undergraduates Recognized At 20th Annual Banquet

April 13, 2016 by Rob Williams

Shelby Kilpatrick, center left, receiving a certificate for the Len P. Quattrochi Memorial Scholarship. Pictured from left are: Dr. Bill McCutchen, Kilpatrick, Dr. Pete Teel, and Dr. David Reed. Photo by Rob Williams

COLLEGE STATION, Texas—Congratulations to all of the Department’s students that were recognized at the 20^th Annual Undergraduate Entomology Student Banquet on Friday, April 8.

Students and their families convened at the Thomas G. Hildebrand Equine Complex where they were treated to a barbecue dinner and desserts as members of the Aggie Forensic and Investigative Sciences and the Undergraduate Entomology Student Organization led the program.

After the welcome, UESO member Shelby Kilpatrick reported the highlights of the year’s activities for the organization while Stephanie Stratta reported highlights from AFIS and Dr. David Reed provided the keynote address.

Brandon Hoyer, center left, receiving a certificate for the Len P. Quattrochi Memorial Scholarship. Pictured from left are: Dr. Bill McCutchen, Hoyer, Dr. Pete Teel, and Dr. David Reed. Photo by Rob Williams — Brandon Hoyer, center left, receiving a certificate for the Perry L. Adkisson Scholarship. Pictured from left are: Dr. Bill McCutchen, Hoyer, Dr. Pete Teel, and Dr. David Reed. Photo by Rob Williams

This year’s scholarship recipients include:

Brandon Hoyer – Perry L. Adkisson Scholarship
Shelby Kilpatrick – Len P. Quattrochi Memorial Scholarships
Mya Gates – Department of Entomology Scholarship
Riley McBroom – Fowden G. and Katherine G. Maxwell Scholarship
Jakalynne Gosnell – Burruss McDaniel/Entomology Systematics Scholarship
Myrah Rodgers – Dr. Manning A. Price Scholarship
Renee Chu – Paul Truman Riherd Memorial Scholarship
Jorge Ordonez – Roger Walker Meola Scholarship
Zayra Ramos – Dial and Eva Martin Memorial Scholarship
Emily Parsoneault – Dr. Micky Eubanks Outstanding Faculty Scholarship
Tanner Truelove-Honorah A. Dore Scholarship

The Entomology Scholars Society for 2016-2017. Pictured are: Bill McCutchen, Dr. Pete Teel, members Katherina Kang, Dayvion Adams, Elaine Chu, and Shelby Kilpatrick, and Dr. David Reed — The Entomology Scholars Society for 2016-2017. Pictured are: Dr. Bill McCutchen, Dr. Pete Teel, members Katherina Kang, Dayvion Adams, Elaine Chu, and Shelby Kilpatrick, and Dr. David Reed

The Department also announced the 2016-2017 cohorts of the Department of Entomology Scholars Society, which is an organization developed to help current students expand their leadership and outreach skills through the enhancement of departmental functions.

These scholars serve as liaisons between faculty, staff and prospective students. Throughout the year, scholars represent the Department and its program by serving as hosts to prospective students, parents and other campus visitors. The cohorts for 2016-2017 are:

Shelby Kilpatrick
Dayvion Adams
Elaine Chu
Katherina Kang
Amy Cooper
Alexandra Williams

Dr. Aaron Tarone receiving the Professor of the Year award from Melissa Espinoza. Photo by Rob Williams.

Dr Aaron Tarone received the Department’s Professor of the Year Award while Jennifer Pecina received AFIS’ Most Hardworking and Dedicated Member of the Year Award and Luke Chambless received UESO Member of the Year.

Ashleigh Faris was announced as the Most Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant of the Year in Forensics and Derek Woller received the Teaching Assistant of the Year for Entomology. The officers for 2016-2017 were then announced during the end of the ceremony.

The 2016-2017 officers for AFIS are:

Katherina Kang – President
Ashley Yzaguirre – Vice President
Adriana Peterson –Treasurer
Jonathan Chang –Secretary
Tammy Star – Activities Coordinator
Mya Gates – Historian

The 2016-2017 officers for UESO are:

Dayvion Adams – President
Elaine Chu – Vice President
Tiffany Le-Ngoc – Treasurer
Bret Nash – Secretary
Luke Chambless – Historian
Ash Howell – Outreach Coordinator
Kaylee Carter – IT Officer/Webmaster

Texas A&M Entomology Students Receive Numerous Awards during Southwestern Branch Meeting

March 16, 2016 by Rob Williams

Derek Woller, left, receives the Comstock Award from Jerry Michels during the awards presentation at the conference.

TYLER, Texas – Seven students walked away winners at the Southwestern Branch of the Entomological Society meeting February 22-25 in Tyler.

Ph.D. student Derek Woller received the ESA’s Comstock Award. This prestigious award with one graduate student from each branch recognized for their accomplishments in research, service, and public engagement. The award is financial support to attend the annual meeting of the Entomological Society of America which this year is co-located with the International Congress of Entomology to be held in September in Orlando, FL.

Woller is a Ph.D student currently studying in Dr. Hojun Song’s lab where his research is focusing on unraveling the evolutionary history of a group composed of 24 flightless, small grasshopper species that inhabit scrubby, xeric habitats in the Southeast.

Woller said that he couldn’t have done it without his advisor, Dr. Hojun Song.

“There is no higher honor for a graduate student in entomology than the Comstock award, so I was thrilled when I received the news!” Woller said. “Looking over the list of past recipients

I see many names of people I know and respect very much in the entomological community, including my advisor, Hojun Song, and I’m proud to be a part of that shared history.”

Song was very proud of Woller’s hard work and dedication to his lab and research.

“The John Henry Comstock Award is the highest honor for graduate students in entomology to receive in this country. Derek has been an exemplar graduate student since 2011. First and foremost, he is an excellent scientist with many ideas. His dissertation research, which focuses on the evolution of flightless grasshopper in Florida, is likely to be a model study for studying the evolution of male genitalia in a phylogenetic framework.”

Isaac Esquivel showing his poster to judges during the Ph.D. poster sessin — Isaac Esquivel showing his poster to judges during the Ph.D. poster session

At the poster session, Erin Maxson received second place in the Master Student category for her poster “Species composition and seasonality of the natural enemies of sugarcane aphid on susceptible and resistant sorghum” and Isaac Esquivel received second in the Ph.D. category for “Spatial relationships of plant bugs in large scale cotton operations: Do edge and ecotone matter.”

Esquivel’s co-advisor Michael Brewer was proud of his accomplishments and said that he was grateful for him being in his lab.

“Isaac brings a fresh perspective to the question of how and why spatial patterns of insect presence of activity are relevant to insects on plants in agricultural lands nested within the coastal environment of South Texas,” Brewer said. “He really brings in the science of landscape ecology to his research. I has been fun to work with Isaac, and serve as his mentor along with Bob Coulson.”

Coulson also praised Esquivel for all of his hard work and dedication with his project.

“Both Dr. Brewer and I are celebrating with Isaac in his success at the Southwestern Branch Meeting. His award was not a surprise to either of us as the story of his poster was significant and interesting and his preparation was meticulous,” he said. “Good work Isaac.”

Shelby Kilpatrick, center, with Blake Bextine, left, and Jerry Michels, right, at the awards ceremony

“Erin has worked very hard on the research that led to this poster, and she worked very hard on the poster itself,” Maxson’s advisor Dr. Jim Woolley said. “Her macrophotography of insects is really superb, and in a class by itself, so we were delighted, but not at all surprised, when her poster won second place in the graduate student competition.”

In the Undergraduate Ten-Minute Paper competition, Shelby Kilpatrick received first place for her talk “An updated checklist of the bees of the Commonwealth of Dominica (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila)”

“Shelby had a lot of fun with this project during our field and tropical biology course in Dominica in summer of 2015, and she worked long hours collecting and identifying the bees,” Woolley said. “As a result she made several interesting new discoveries that she reported in her talk. The talk itself was very well prepared and she practiced it over and over with different audiences, so again, we were delighted but not at all surprised when she won first prize in the undergraduate competition.”

Masters student Pierre Lau placed second in the Masters talks for his presentation “Analysis of pollen collected by honey bees (Apis mellifera) in developed areas”.

In the Ph.D. Student Ten-Minute Paper competition, Woller received first place for his talk “Exploring the sexy frontiers of functional morphology…in 3D!!! (Orthoptera: Acrididae: Melanoplus rotundipennis)” while Mackenzie Kjeldgaard received second for “Quantifying the diet of the red imported fire ant (Solenopsis

Pierre Lau, center, with Blake Bextine, left, ad Jerry Michels

invicta): A next-generation sequencing approach to molecular gut content analysis,” and Adrian Fisher received third place for “The synergistic effects of almond protection fungicides on honey bee (Apis mellifera) forager survival.”

Song was very proud of Woller’s communication skills and praised his dedication to his achievements and dedication to teaching entomology.

“Derek is also a fantastic scientific communicator and his passion for outreach is unparalleled. He is dedicated to his teaching, which he takes very seriously, and the students that he interacts with always benefit and learn from him tremendously,” Song said.

Adrian Fisher II, center, with Blake Bextine, left, ad Jerry Michels

“I am very proud of Derek’s achievements so far, including the recent award at the Southwestern Branch meeting, and I feel extremely lucky to have him as my graduate student. I am confident that Derek will be the next rising star in entomology.”

Eubanks was very proud of Kjeldgaard on receiving high marks on her talk.

“MacKenzie is an outstanding young scientist and an incredibly energetic student. This study utilizes the very latest molecular techniques to provide unique insight into the ecology of one of the most serious pests of Texas,” he said.

Rangel was very proud of her students and said their hard work and dedication in the past months had paid off during the meeting.

“I am incredibly proud of Pierre and Adrian because they worked really hard on their presentations,” In my lab we take time to practice every person’s talk at least twice before every meeting,” Rangel said. “Having practiced even the day before the competition one last time helped them to improve their talk and the way in which they presented their research to the audience. These and all the other awards that my students received make me not only proud but encouraged about continuing to excel in honeybee research.”

Woller also won Best Overall Photo for his photo named “Captivating Chrysalis” and Xanthe Shirley received first place in the Microphotography category for her photo called “Contemplating Quantum Physics”.

Photo salon committee chair Carl Hjelmen said that there were a total of 51 submissions in this year’s salon and said the images increased in quality compared to last year’s.

“I was very pleased with the number of submissions, especially that there were representatives from all around the branch,” Hjelmen said. “I hope the trend of increased photo salon entries continue.”

Linnaean Teams Win First and Second Place at Southwestern Branch Meeting

March 7, 2016 by Rob Williams

The Graduate Linnaean Team vs the Undergraduate Linnaean team during the final round. Photo by Juliana Rangel

TYLER, Texas–The Department of Entomology’s graduates and undergraduate Linnaean Teams came out big during the annual Linnaean Games quiz bowl competition at the Southwestern Branch of the Entomological Society meeting during the last week of February.

The Graduate Linnaean Team received first place after defeating the Texas A&M undergraduate team in the final round of play. Both teams also competed other teams, graduate and undergraduate, from Oklahoma State University.

The graduate team consisted of Pierre Lau, Freddy Ibanez, Adrian Fisher, and Carl Hjelmen while the undergraduate team included Shelby Kilpatrick, Andrew Graf, Dayvion Adams and Bret Nash.

According to the Entomological Society of America website, the Linnaean Games are a lively question-and-answer, quiz bowl style competition on entomological facts played between university-sponsored student teams. Each team is comprised of four members and members score points for the team by answering questions correctly.

Linnaen Games - inside page — The Undergraduate Linnaean Team, right, facing off against the Oklahoma State team. Photo by Andrew Graf.

The two teams will advance to the national ESA Linnaean Games competition, as well as participate in the International Congress of Entomology meeting’s competition that will be held in Orlando in November.

“I was very excited to be participating in this year’s games, especially because we finally got first place at the meeting,” Hjelmen said. “Oklahoma historically has been a very difficult opponent and in previous years we have only achieved second. These games were especially exciting because the TAMU undergrad team was also able to beat both Oklahoma teams in order to get to second place.”

Hjelmen said that with the graduate team taking first place and the undergraduate team taking second helped them to get both undergraduate and graduate representation when they go to Orlando later this year. He also attributed the hard work to his teammates and Rangel for her great coaching.

“Needless to say, both teams have barely been able to contain their excitement for these games. This couldn’t have been achieved without all of the countless hours spent by the teams and our coach, Juliana Rangel, in practices and studying outside of the practices and games,” he said. “All of this studying allowed us to easily answer the tricky historical entomology questions, sometimes with my personal favorite answer “C.V. Riley.” There were really way too many difficult questions to count and it is always surprising when people know the answers!”

Undergraduate team member Shelby Kilpatrick was looking forward to going to Orlando for the national ESA Linnaean Games, as well as the International Congress of Entomology’s Linnaean Games. The national ESA meeting will be held in conjunction with the ICE meeting in Orlando, Florida.

“I am very excited about the opportunity to participate in the National Linnaean Games at the Entomological Society of America,” she said. “It will be my first time to attend a national ESA meeting and this is a historic year since it’s being held in conjunction with the International Congress of Entomology. I am very proud of my team and looking forward to the national contest in September.”

She said the hardest questions were the ones about toxicology while the easiest were the questions that included photos or about taxonomy and insect classification.

“One of my favorite things about entomology is that there will always be something new to learn,” she said.

This was Lau’s first time to participate in the Linnaean Games this year since he was an alternate during last year’s competition. He said that being an alternate helped him to know what to expect during this year’s competition.

“I thought the games this year were much better than the last because we won first and second place,” Lau said. “It has been a while since the graduate team won first at the meeting.”

Linnaean Team coach Juliana Rangel was very proud of both teams and was impressed by the amount of hard work and dedication they had put in before and during the competition.

I am extremely proud of the performance of both teams, dedication during practice rounds and their homework really had paid off,” Rangel said.

She was extremely proud of the undergraduate team because of their dedication and the depth of entomological knowledge, and their courageousness during the hardest parts of the games.

“I am extremely proud of the undergraduate. They were courageous enough to beat the graduate team from Oklahoma State University, despite the nervousness you usually get facing other teams in a competition.”

“Overall, I’m extremely proud of both teams and I’m also proud to be their coach,” she added.