Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

January 16 - Meeting called to order by Chair Becky Trout Fryxell at 8:30 AM. After some opening remarks by local arrangement coordinator Jerry Hogsette, there was a round of self-introductions. Herb Bolton was not able to attend the meeting. Administrative advisor David White reminded the group that the annual report is due within 60 days of holding the meeting. Providing the minutes of the meeting with accompanying appropriate materials satisfies the reporting requirement. 

• Amy Murillo announced that she now holds a faculty position at UC Riverside. 

Wes Watson led the discussion of Objective 1, New technologies for the management of biting and nuisance flies in organic and conventional systems.

• Jerry Hogsette presented work on attract and kill projects for stable flies. At the National Zoo in Washington, he has been evaluating use of a Knight Stick trap that has been modified by wrapping it with perforated insecticide-treated fabric from Vestergaard. He also presented work from Costa Rican pineapple fields comparing Knight Stick and Vavua traps with sticky adhesive-coated white plastic bags. The white plastic bags performed surprisingly well and are inexpensive.
• Dave Taylor announced that another international stable fly meeting is being planned for Orlando in 2021.
• Dave Boxler reported on several field projects with horn flies. In the first, application of 7-8 fatty acids from coconut oil provided some repellency but it only lasted for 3 days or so. In the second, the Y-Tex eartag XP820 with abamectin and PBO provided excellent control for 2 months. In the third, a mix of C8 and C10 fatty acids provided only very transitory control.
• Chris Geden provided an overview of new objectives for his next 5-year project plan: 1) Effect of gut microbiome on fly fitness; 2) Beauveria bassiana for adult fly management; 3) Development of Tachinaephagus zealandicus as a biological larvicide; and 4) Novel attractant for house flies based on constituents of molasses.
• Roxie White presented her MS thesis research on bassiana for house flies: 1) Fly larvae were only susceptible to infection when they were very young; 2) A strain of B. bassiana isolated from flies on a Florida dairy farm was more effective against adult flies than other strains except for the GHA strain found in the commercial product Botaniguard; and 3) 10 generations of selection for faster kill rates was not effective at increasing virulence.
• Wes Watson has a project on improving animal welfare and disease management in dairy herds through fly control. He pointed out that the dairy industry is hurting, with many farms closing and farm income suffering from milk prices that are low and variable. He has sent out 2000 surveys to dairy farmers to ask about items including pests, pinkeye, and mastitis. He also mentioned that NIFA has a new grant program for organic production systems, the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative (OREI). 

Phil Kaufman led the discussion for Objective 2, Insecticide resistance detection and management.

• Phil announced that he will be taking the position of department head at Texas A&M. He also said that he will continue for now to provide test kits for stable fly resistance testing. This year he sent kits to Costa Rica and Australia. Participants are asked to send the resulting data to Phil and the flies to Pia Olafson for genotyping.
• Alec Gerry presented work done by his graduate student Caleb Hubbard on the genetics of behavioral resistance to imidacloprid in house flies. This has involved collecting wild flies and selecting for flies that are behaviorally but not metabolically resistant. He now has five lines of these flies and has identified two chromosomes where the behavioral resistance alleles are located.
• Pia Olafson reported on her work with resistance in stable flies. Kdr-his is the only resistance allele in US populations. The “regular” kdr allele has been found in France, Thailand, and Australia. She has developed a construct for injecting fly eggs to transform stable flies with CRISPR-cas9, using a heat shock promoter and GFP. She is interested in looking at odorant-binding proteins (ODPs) and whether they can be knocked out. The ODP genes are clustered on the genome so it should be possible to knock out several at the same time. Pia has also sequenced the face fly genome and is planning to do Fannia and 

Louisa Domingues, who has been a postdoc at USDA-Kerrville for three years, presented work on efforts to develop vaccines for external parasites. She is using a new approach, Reverse Vaccinology, in which one screens for immunogenic antigens for analysis on the genome or transcriptome rather than using culture-based methods. This is computer-intensive work for which several software systems have been developed. The initial screening narrows the field from 6000 candidates to 600 or so. These are then cloned into yeast, purified, tested in vitro and then finally in animals to see if antibodies are produced. The current vaccine is effective for Boophilus annulatus but not B. microplus. 

Dana Nayduch led the discussion on Objective 3, Investigation of the microbial ecology, epithelial immunity, and vector competence of biting and nuisance flies.

• Aaron Tarone is examining molecular and ecological routes that create bacterial “winners” and “losers” by looking at interactions between bacteria and Lucilia sericata. This blow fly has more anti-bacterial and anti-biofilm protectants than any other eukaryote. To do this work he is looking at expression of antimicrobials in larvae after they have fed of Pseudomonas auruginosa and Acinetobacter baumani on agar plates. He is seeing lots of different responses which can differ depending on the species of bacteria. Aaron is also interested in heat tolerance and is characterizing critical thermal maxima in Chrysomya rufifacies and macellaria. First instars are the most sensitive to heat shock. Responses can be delayed; a one-hour heat event in the life of a larva can result in a 20% reduction in pupal weight.
• Ted Burgess gave an overview of the potential of polyols for fly management. Although they are much less toxic than conventional insecticides, they are inexpensive and safe to use. The mode of action is still uncertain. Rates of regurgitation by adult flies are much higher after they have fed on polyols than on sucrose. Polyols affect hemolymph osmolality and reduce the number of total bacterial cfu’s in the gut. Xylitol is known to have antimicrobial properties.
• Adam Wong reported on two projects. In the first, he is looking at interactions of Vibrio cholera and Drosophila. Normal flies are unaffected by Vibrio but die quickly if the quorum sensing gene is knocked out. Feeding succinate to knock-out flies rescues them, indicating that the cause of death is due to the Vibrio depleting succinate and causing the flies to die of starvation. In the second project he has been looking at antibiotic resistant bacteria in wild house flies. Females are much more likely than males to harbor such bacteria, and most of the resistant bacteria were resistant to at least 3 antibiotics. Some of the resistance mechanisms in these bacteria appear to be novel in nature.
• Becky Trout Fryxell has a student who is looking at the effect of horn flies on milk quality and yield on organic dairies. She is using digital photography and computer automation to do the fly counts. So far, she is seeing a clear relationship between the number of flies and animal weight, but no effect on somatic cell counts.
• Dana Nayduch reported on two projects. In the first, she looked at bacterial carriage by sexes and from different collection sites (dumpster vs dairy). More culturable aerobes were found in females and from the dairy, but there were no sex or site effects in coliforms (VRBA). Of the dairy flies, 36 of the 38 bacterial isolates were antibiotic resistant, with many isolates resistant to multiple antibiotics. In the second project she is taking a sequencing rather than a culture-based approach to ask similar questions. Her 5-year project plan includes an extensive survey (4 climatic zones) of fly microbiomes, associated pathogens, and the presence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. 

Dave Taylor led the discussion on Objective 4, Characterizing population biology of biting and nuisance flies.

• Alec Gerry mentioned that he has a student monitoring overwintering and the effects of temperature on Culicoides on dairies.
• Dave Taylor reported on two projects. In the first he looked at the effects of temperature and diet quality on development of stable fly immatures. Larvae reared on diets with low nutritional quality completed development at the same time as those on standard diet but produced smaller-bodied pupae. Small pupae have lower adult emergence rates. The optimum rearing temperature is 30^oC, but it drops off rapidly at 35^o In the second project he has been looking at stable fly larval orientation to different chemicals. They do not respond to alcohols, are attracted to some esters, and very attracted to ammonium hydroxide.
• Wes Watson reported on a flight mill that his lab has developed that can run as many as 12 flies at a time. Horn flies that were 2 and 5 days old flew 18.9 and 15 km in 24 hours, respectively, whereas newly emerged flies only flew1.4 km. Five-day-old face flies flew 30.1 km in 24 hours.
• Justin Talley is looking at whether tabanid populations are affected by eastern red cedar as part of the landscape. He compared open- and closed-canopy eastern red cedar habitats with pastures and oak habitats. All of the habitats had cattle present. Tabanus abactor was the most abundant species. More flies were collected in the open-canopy red cedar habitat, and this may be related to fly larval development in moist leaf litter under the trees. Justin also has a grant to look at flies visiting pig burial sites. Dead pigs are inoculated with pox virus, left open in a trench for 5 hours, then covered with soil.
• Becky Trout Fryxell reported on three projects. In the first, she discussed work done by her student Travis Davis. Travis collected tabanids over the southeast and visited entomological museums to get collection information and GPS coordinates for all collections. He has compared the apparent distribution of species using GPS versus county centroid records and done niche modelling based on RH, degree days, vegetation and other parameters. In the second project she described a grant that she received that provides 8-week research training experiences in bioinformatics for women. The women also receive leadership training. Becky will have two of these students, and they will look at stable flies from 20 or so locations in the US, France, Costa Rica, and Thailand. The students will homogenize the flies, take snips, and look at population genetics, microbiomes and blood meals. Her third project focuses on Asian longhorn tick. She presented the current known distribution and the 19 known hosts. This tick rarely feeds on humans or on small mammals such as mice and is most often found on dogs and cattle. It is a known vector of Anaplasma, Babesia, Theileria, Ehrlichia and various rickettsiae and viruses.

At the end of the session, Dana Nayduch announced that USDA-Manhattan had hired a new scientist, Bethany McGregor. Bethany will soon be recruiting for a GS7 to GS9 technician. 

Chris Holderman gave an update on this summer’s LIWC meeting, which will be in Dallas June 14-17 (Sunday through Wednesday). Tuesday will be a half-day of programming with a banquet in the evening. 

Meeting adjourned for day at 4:45 PM 

January 17 – meeting called to order at 8:35. 

Alec Gerry began the discussion of Objective 5, Extension and community engagement.

Alec emphasized the need to garner stakeholder support for veterinary entomology with tangible products that they can use. The ongoing revision of the “Lincoln Document” summarizing the pest status and research/extension needs of vet entomology pests will provide one such product. He also revisited the topic of developing a series of public-ready impact statements on research and extension projects. Such statements could also include accomplishments related to student training.

            Our project also includes a Milestone to seek funding opportunities. Alec reminded the group that it would be helpful if project members include some funding for extension/outreach in their research proposals. This can include funding to support the Veterinary Entomology website. Alec also suggested that group members could try to get funding from regional IPM Centers to develop Pest Management Plans for different commodities.

            A team has been formed to expand the website to increase exposure to stakeholders and decision-makers by making it a national repository of information. The current team includes Alec, Erika Machtinger, Becky Trout Fryxell, Brandon Smythe, Gary Brewer, Phil Kaufman and Dave Taylor. In addition, Amy Murillo, Ted Burgess, and Kateryn Rochon asked to be included. Although Erika has been taking a leadership role, the team needs to identify a website chair. Specific goals are to add new/updated content, monitor website visits, and create new content (videos, training documents) organized by commodity and that provides continuing education credits. 

Erika Machtinger then led a discussion about the grant that went to S1076 members who have Extension responsibilities. The grant had three objectives. The first was to update the “Lincoln document” with a series of fly-specific articles for the Journal of IPM (due March 16). The writers of these articles spent a day before the meeting (January 15) brainstorming and giving progress reports. The second was to improve the website by giving it an updated look, improving content, and embedding social media such as Twitter and YouTube so that any S1076 member can post content. Visitors to the site can now choose among the options “Find a Pest”, “Find a Pesticide”, and “Find a Professional”. Please send Erika any Extension publications that could be posted to the website. Also, please send Erika any high-quality photos that you may have on sheep louse, chicken louse, wool maggot, and sheep ked. 

Erika then asked for volunteers to develop “Pest Paragraphs”, i.e., short blurbs followed by 6-10 sentences about the subject pest. These will be posted on the website. The following folks signed up for the pests below. If you signed up, please submit to Erika as soon as possible but by June 1 at the latest.

• Alec - Biting midge
• Phil - Brown dog tick, sheep botfly
• Becky - Face fly, Blacklegged tick
• Justin - Horse botfly, Deer fly
• Wes- Sheep louse
• Jerry H. - Black dump fly
• Dave B. - Cattle grub
• Nancy - Flea
• Hannah - Mange mites
• Sonja - Black fly
• Amy - Fowl tick
• T- Wool maggot
• Aaron - Black soldier fly
• Erika- Eye gnat
• Xi - Hog louse
• Kateryn - Sheep ked 

A somewhat larger task that remains is the development of a series of “Learn Now” videos for different commodities. Erika’s postdoc Hanna is also doing units of IPM (in general) and insecticide resistance. There will be 10 of these Learn Now modules, with each being composed of a sequence of short videos on particular topics (pest ID, life cycle, monitoring, and management). The first Learn Now product, “Poultry Pest Identification” is nearly completed. Storyboards are needed for all of the remaining videos. The following people volunteered to help with the remaining videos:

• Beef cattle - Dave T., Justin, Sonja, Brandon, Dave B.
• Poultry - Amy, Alec, Erika, Brad, Nancy, Jerry
• Dairy cattle - Sonja, Chris, Alec, Kateryn, Dave Bereford
• Equine - Erika, Becky, Kelly

Becky recently sent an email describing what needs to be done for these to the group. Erika reminded us that cell phone cameras can be used to shoot video, but we should try to include a range of faces and places in the various shots. Please develop text and narrative on the assumption that the audience has an 8th-grade education. Our goal is to have the videos completed by June 1.

Alec then asked for a round of applause for Becky, Erika, and Jerry for their hard work in putting together a good meeting. 

A brief business meeting followed, in which Raleigh, NC was chosen for the 2021 meeting and Stillwater, OK for 2022. 

Doug Ross announced that his company has access to a wide range of technical AI’s if people need them for testing.

Meeting adjourned 11:15 AM 

Respectfully submitted,

Chris Geden, Secretary