Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Day 1

Meeting called to order by Erika Machtinger at 8:31 AM. Erika announced that the meeting is a hybrid of in-person and virtual (Zoom) participation. She then introduced the current S1076 officers and asked folks to go around the room and do self-introductions. This was followed by a discussion of the purpose of multistate projects, which is to address research problems that are bigger than what any state programs can handle on their own. The states handle the distribution of multistate funds using a variety of mechanisms.

Jerry Hogsette (local arrangements) announced that lunches and breakfasts will be provided for both days of the meeting and that registration costs will be calculated based on expenses and the number of registrants. The registration fee will be paid directly to the Hilton hosting the meeting.

Erika asked whether there were any announcements regarding job openings or transitions:

·         Erika is hiring a postdoc to work on bedbug monitoring; salary of $72,000/year

·         Dana Nayduch said that the Manhattan lab is interviewing for a 6th SY in her unit. This person will focus on bioinformatics. Another new hire is imminent, pending a rating panel review. Travis Rusch, who was a postdoc, has been hired as an SY. These new scientists will need technicians, so be on the lookout for job openings for these technician slots.

·         Perot Saelao announced that the USDA Kerrville lab will be hiring an immunologist SY and that the Research Leader position for the Mission lab will be advertised soon. Kerrville is undergoing a $50 million upgrade, with new buildings being constructed to replace the old Quonset huts.

·         Becky Trout Fryxell said that Tennessee will again be offering an 8-week summer program for women in bioinformatics. They will also be recruiting for a microbiome faculty position.

·         Jeff Scott announced that Cornell will be recruiting for an extension livestock entomologist.

·         Phil Kaufman encouraged people with vacancies to send advertisements to him to circulate to other department heads.

·         Kyle Harrison, currently a postdoc at USDA Lincoln, is looking for a position in genetics/genomics.

·         Chris Geden announced that John Stoffolano has retired from the University of Massachusetts after 53 years and mentioned his many contributions to our understanding of fly biology.

·         Phil Kaufman suggested that the S1076 group self-nominate for another recognition award.

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

Aaron Tarone has received a grant that will examine alternatives for sterilizing insects for SIT programs because of national security concerns about the use of cobalt irradiators. A first step will be preparation of a review article on possible alternatives, including X-rays and molecular/genetic approaches. John Welch will be helping with the article, and Aaron encouraged others with an interest in the subject to participate.

Gary Brewer gave an update on a push-pull approach to managing stable flies. Cattle were divided into three treatment groups: 1) untreated controls; 2) permethrin sprays; and 3) combination of sticky traps baited with m-Cresol and animal sprays with coconut fatty acids. The two treatment groups had similar efficacy, although the effects wore off after several days. They estimate that the traps themselves contributed to a 17-21% reduction in fly loads on the animals.

Alexandra Pagac presented work on a fly parasitoid survey in Pennsylvania poultry houses using two sampling methods: conventional pupal bags and sentinels using fly larvae and associated odors that pupated while in the field. The larval sentinels collected proportionally more Spalangia species than the conventional pupal bags. Parasitoid collections were composed of Trichomolopsis sp. near sarcophagae, Spalangia cameroni, S. endius, and S. nigroaenea. No Muscidifurax or Nasonia were collected.

Chris Geden gave an update on two projects involving Beauveria bassiana. In the first, an attempt was made to select for faster kill times by subjecting five new strains of B. bassiana (from Pennsylvania poultry flies) to selection for 10 generations. After 10 generations, two of the strains had failed. One of the strains was unaffected by the selection and the two others actually had slower kill rates after selection compared to the unselected strains. In another project, the fly predator Carcinops pumilio was found to be mainly refractory to infection with B. bassiana, with low mortality at doses that killed nearly 100% of flies.

Jerry Zhu reviewed the history of work in his lab to identify repellents and attractants for stable flies. Coconut fatty acids (C8-C18) are particularly effective repellents for stable flies and other pests, and work is in progress to evaluate the potential of impregnating military uniforms. Coconut fatty acids and lauric acid are more effective and have longer retention times than catnip oil. Coconut fatty acids were highly effective when formulated in Coppertone sunscreen. Coconut fatty acids were more repellent than DEET for stable flies, bed bugs, and ticks. Capric acid was as effective as DEET against Aedes aegypti. A commercial partner (Nitto) is looking at incorporating attractants such as m-cresol into adhesive for use in sticky white traps.  M-cresol and 2-phenylethanol are both attractive to stable to stable flies, and combinations of the two are highly attractive provided that the chemicals are not actually mixed with each other.

Dave Boxler reported on a study in which mineral blocks with either garlic (2%) or Alrocid were given to cattle in a free choice setting. The garlic mineral was highly palatable. There was no difference between the two treatments, but horn fly counts remained high on animals in both treatment groups.

Wes Watson compared the effectiveness of a passive horn fly walk-through trap device (Bruce trap) with the vacuum-assisted Cow Vac. Both traps worked quite well. Collection traps collected significantly reduced fly counts on cattle compared to the control animals, but the CowVac collected more flies and reduced fly counts on animals more than the Bruce trap.

Cassandra Olds compared the effectiveness of two fly sprays for horses (Ultra Shield, pyrethrins and Stop the Bite, a botanical) with a physical head-to-toe fly sheet for stable flies and horn flies. The sheet was most effective at preventing bites. The botanical product was more effective than the pyrethroid product and lasted a little longer. The fly sheets had UV reflecting properties that had a cooling effect on the animals. The horses learned that the sheets protected them from flies and were reluctant to have them removed.

Katy Smith reported on a survey about organic practices in Tennessee dairies. Most (76%) of the producers were conventional operations and 17% were organic. Organic producers had higher severity of pest pressure and pinkeye, but mastitis concerns were the same in the two groups. The primary barrier to transitioning to organic production was perceived higher costs. Most producers were unaware of the connection between flies and pinkeye or mastitis.

Ted Burgess led the discussion for Objective 2, Insecticide resistance detection and management.

Rich Meisel reported on an improved whole genome sequence for house fly. Using new tools, the new sequence is a substantial improvement over the sequence published in 2014. The new sequence has higher N50s, larger scaffolds, and is more contiguous. Gaps in gene families were closed, and there are now no gaps in the genes coding of antimicrobial peptide families. Most genes have been assigned to chromosomes. Myc binding sites are enriched near constitutively expressed defensins.

Perot Saelao is working on expanding genetic tools for livestock pests. They are working on improving the sequence information for horn fly, stable fly, and face fly. BUSCO scores for all three genomes are over 95%. Horn fly appears to have 5 chromosomes plus either several small scaffolds or putative micro chromosomes. Genome sizes for horn fly, stable fly and face fly are 1229, 971, and 1882 Mbs, respectively. Perot encouraged the group to “to help further drive the biologically relevant questions these genomes were generated for”.

Jeff Scott, with the help of S1076 members, did a survey for existing cross-resistance in house flies to Fluralaner, which is thought to have a novel mode of action. Flies from all 10 locations sampled had detectable resistance to Fluralaner even though it has never been used in the field against house flies. After four generations of selecting for resistance in the lab, flies had become 10,000-fold resistant. PBO was helpful, knocking resistance down to only 7-fold. The resistance genes map to chromosomes 3 and 5. Older flies were more sensitive to Fluralaner than younger flies. Overall, Jeff concluded that there is little practical potential for this material for field use because of the rapidity with which resistance will develop.

Jeff Scott also reported on AChE (acetylcholinesterase) and kdr alleles in flies sampled from 12 locations. Most populations have a mix of kdr mutations: kdr, kdr-his. Skdr, 1B, and susceptible. Kdr mutations are related to VSSC (voltage-sensitive sodium channel) and confer resistance to pyrethroids. AChE is more complicated because of mutations that may have single or multiple origins. The most common AChE mutation in the US is A316S. Others include G342A/V and F407Y. These mutations sometimes involve a small number of amino acid substitutions that have substantial effects on effectiveness of organophosphate and carbamate insecticides.

Before breaking for lunch, Pia Olafson invited the group to attend the Livestock Insects Workers Conference in Fredericksburg TX this June 11-14. Pia and Kim Lohmeyer will be the meeting co-chairs.

Ted Burgess discussed cuticular penetration of fluralaner in adult house flies. The work was done using tritium-labeled fluralaner. Penetration was faster on older than younger flies. The fluralaner-resistant strain that Jeff Scott developed showed 20-fold lower penetration rates than susceptible flies, and the gene responsible for this was mapped to chromosome 3. The type of solvent used (acetone, butyl lactate, triethyl citrate) also had some effect on penetration.

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

Abigail Orr presented work on using blow flies as indicators for microbes. She has been looking at datasets of 6 species from 10 research projects that include lab and field samples with 394 libraries. She used three sample prep methods: SRNA, MRNA and Ribominus. The three methods can yield different results. For example, RNA viruses are not picked up using the MRNA method. The Ribominus method may be more cost effective than SRNA, although information-rich results are obtained with both. Providentia stuartii, a gram-negative bacillus, is an example of a good indicator species at 25oC.

Kyle Harrison looked at microbial community associations with segregated lab populations of stable flies. He worked with two lab strains that had been maintained separately for many years. Flies from both were grown in normal media (70% water) and media that was somewhat drier (64%). Media was sampled for bacterial composition over time. The bacterial communities differed somewhat between the strains, although nearly half of the taxa could only be classified as “bacteria.”  The final moisture levels of the two strains also differed, with higher final  moisture levels present in media from one of the strains than the other in both normal and drier media.

Dana Nayduch presented Sara Neupane’s work on bacteria found in manure and house flies associated with dairy cattle in KS, OK, and TX in July-October. The work was sequence-based using 16S mRNA to look at OTUs (operational taxonomic units) and bacterial diversity. Findings: 1) flies share lots of OTUs with what’s in the manure; 2) shared OTUs account for >91% of total sequences; 3) unique OTUs were found in 54% of fly samples and 4.7% of manure samples; 4) 80% of fly and manure samples included potentially harmful bacteria; 5) there was a high prevalence of potential human pathogens; 6) there was a low prevalence of bovine respiratory pathogens. In summary, flies can be used as a proxy for surveillance of pathogens associated with animal agriculture.

T.C. Crippen has been looking at prevalence of bacteria from sub-habitats within cattle facilities. Using shotgun metamicrobiomics, she is finding lots of flies with unique bacterial species and that relatively few species of bacteria were found in multiple manure sub-habitats within the farms.

Victoria Pickens has been using a culture-based approach to examining bacterial carriage by house flies, with a particular emphasis on multi-drug-resistant coliforms. Flies were collected from beef and dairy farms and bacteria were cultured and examined for resistance to tetracycline, ampicillin, florfenicol, and others. Flies from beef farms had greater levels of multi-drug-resistant bacteria than dairy farms. Resistance to tetracycline, ampicillin, and florfenicol was most common. Multi-drug-resistance was most common in E. coli, Shigella, and Klebsiella. Resistance genes mostly occurred on the genome rather than on plasmids.

Brandon Lyons reported on a new project to look at insects as vectors of antimicrobial resistance genes on livestock farms. The initial emphasis will be on broilers and caged-layer poultry. They are looking at house flies, Ophyra/Hydrotaea, blow flies, cockroaches, and lesser mealworms. The GI tract of sampled insects is being removed and sent for testing.

Ted Burgess led the discussion of Objective 4: Characterize population biology of biting and nuisance flies.

Lauren Beebe reported on blood meal identification from stable flies collected from an exotic animal park in Texas that is bordered by cattle farms. Preliminary results have shown that flies at the park had fed on humans (1 fly), yaks (1 fly), cattle (2), and elk (3). Discussion followed to help identify interrupted feedings.

Alec Gerry reported on several projects, mainly from research done by students Xinmi Zhang and Laura Harmon. Xinmi looked at agreement between morphological and molecular methods for identifying California Culicoides species. Some species could only be separated by one method but not the other. Laura Harmon is expanding this work to cover the Western US with NEON sites. Xinmi Zhang also found that Culicoides sonorensis and C. sahara were attracted to CO2 and UV, whereas other species were attracted to UV only. Xinmi also has looked at Culicoides diel activity and found that it is controlled by many factors. Finally, Culicoides were found to be active on warm days in the winter, but so far none of these flies have been found with blue tongue virus (BTV).

Bethany McGregor reported on host site usage and Culicoides larval emergence. This work is being done at Konza Prairie Biological Station, where there are bison populations. By combining game camera imagery with larval emergence data, she was able to correlate fly emergence with host activity. Surprisingly, there was an inverse relationship between animal activity and Culicoides emergence. Is this because of animals trampling larval sites? Animal activity changing the chemistry or biome of the larval sites?

Nancy Hinkle asked a question of the group. What should she tell cattle producers when they ask her when to treat for horn flies? Horn fly counts vary depending on temperature, season, time of day, vegetation height, cattle breed, and whether animals are bulls/steers or cows. This was left as an open question.

Alec Gerry then led the discussion of Objective 5. Extension and community engagement.

Alec recently held two Dairy Pest Manage Management Strategic Workshops, one each in northern and southern California. USDA funds the development of Pest Management Strategic Plans for various commodities. Alec will use the results of the workshops to develop a plan, which will be reviewed by USDA and eventually published. The producers were mostly concerned about stable flies, house flies, and lice, and also mosquitoes and ants. Alec found that a surprising number of producers in the south had concerns with spinose ear tick. Some were concerned about the foothill tick, which transmits the pathogen responsible for epizootic bovine abortion (Pajaroellobacter abortibovis). The ticks, Ornithodoros coriaceus, are also known as the pajaroello tick. Some producers were concerned about the effects of lepidopteran larvae on grasslands.

Alec also gave an update on the VetPestX website. The database now includes dogs and cats and includes FDA-approved parasiticides such as Ivomec. There was an extended discussion about the ongoing challenge of keeping the database up to date, especially regarding registrations in individual states. Alec announced that Amy Murillo is conducting a poultry ectoparasite survey. If S1076 members would like to participate, they can contact Amy, who will send them traps to place in poultry houses.

Erika Machtinger reported on usage metrics for the veterinaryentomology.org website. Users are up 122% since 2020. Most visitors are from the US and the UK. Over half of the visits were from mobile devices. The top four visited pages were those for sticktight fleas, chicken mites, northern fowl mites, and VetPestX. In other metrics related to the grant that Erika received, the special collection on pest flies is already receiving substantial numbers of citations, especially the papers on house flies and stable flies. Of the YouTube videos, the three with the greatest numbers of hits were nuisance flies in poultry, harmful flies of cattle, and IPM on animal facilities.

Day 2

Erika led the business meeting. After some discussion, it was decided that we will meet in Las Cruces, NM in 2024 (hosted by Ulises Sanchez and Brandon Smythe) and in Stillwater Oklahoma in 2025 (hosted by Justin Talley). There was a consensus that we try to rotate among the three major US time zones. This would put the meeting somewhere in the Eastern time zone for 2026.

Cliff Lamb, the  Administrative Advisor for S1076, spoke to the group via Zoom. He said that he also advises 3 other groups and that S1076 has a strong reputation.  He reminded us that the annual report is due within 30 days of the meeting. He also reminded us that our project renewal must be submitted by March 15, 2023 and encouraged us to provide a list of potential reviewers. The project can keep its project number and name if we like, but the Objectives should be refreshed.

Michele Colby, NIFA NPL, gave an update on NIFA funding. Her detailed report, which included due dates for some competitive programs, is attached to these minutes as Appendix II.

The discussion then turned to succession planning. After considerable discussion it was decided that we elect someone who will serve 2 years as vice-chair, two-years as chair, then 1 year as past chair. Brandon Smythe offered to serve as the new vice-chair elect and was approved by unanimous acclamation. Chris Geden will serve as secretary for the 2024 meeting, after which a person will be elected for this role.

At this point, the discussion focused on project renewal. The group agreed to expand the title and mission of the project from flies to all arthropods. Reviewer comments on the first draft of the expanded proposal were positive. Erika then presented information on NIFA guidelines for preparing a strong proposal.

After some discussion, the following objectives and related leaders were identified:

·         Objective 1. Value-added innovations to managing arthropods of veterinary concern (new technologies, precision agriculture). Leaders: Trout Fryxell and Olafson

·         Objective 2. Assessment and development of management approaches for arthropods of veterinary concern and integrated pest management. Leaders: Brewer and Boxler

·         Objective 3. Develop and strengthen effective surveillance and monitoring of arthropod pests of veterinary concern and associated arthropod-transmitted pathogens. Leaders: Burgess and Estep

·         Objective 4. Investigate the ecology, biology, evolution, genetics, and behavior of arthropods of veterinary concern. Leaders: Olds and Schults

·         Objective 5. Develop and deliver science-based educational materials focused on management of arthropods of veterinary concern through outlets such as mass media, peer-reviewed publications, extension fact sheets, webinars, veterinaryentomology.org, social media, and other sources as appropriate. Leaders: Gerry, Machtinger, and Loftin

Suggestions were then made for potential reviewers, including Andrew Lee, Ron Byford, Bethia King, Pete Teel, Laura Harrington, Dave Taylor, Mike Fletcher, Brad Mullens.

The project needs overall sections on the following, all of which have limited numbers of words/characters allowed.

·         General introduction

·         Related, current, and previous work

·         Methods

·         Measurements of progress and results (outputs, outcomes and projected impacts, milestones)

·         Organization/governance

·         Literature cited

·         Outreach plan

Erika and Becky will set up Google drive sheets for each of the objectives. Project members should provide info on all the above (except governance) along with their proposed research in the respective Objective pages. Erika and Becky will distill these submissions to draft the overall sections that are outside the individual sections. Remember that the submission deadline is March 15. Please submit your content to the respective objectives by dates in the email from Erika on Jan 11: January 20 (self-identify in objectives), February 3 (enter your content into the objectives), and February 24 (objective leaders send content to Erika)

Meeting adjourned 11:15 AM