“The Ugly Bug Ball”: Department of Entomology Records

Contributed by Anne Barrett

While scanning records from the Department of Entomology at NC State for the Cultivating a Revolution digitization project, the lyrics of a song kept coming to mind. Burl Ives, well-known narrator of the 1960s animated film “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” wrote and performed the song “Ugly Bug Ball” in the 1963 Disney film “Summer Magic.” The song is about insect, arachnid and worm-like creatures coming together to an annual “ugly bug ball”. You can hear the song on YouTube here .

So, other than obvious subject matter, how does this song relate to the records of the Department of Entomology? Periodically, the Insect Clinic at NC State would produce reports of entomological specimens collected and processed at the clinic. These reports functioned as a “guest list” of sorts, measuring pests throughout the state -- ugly bugs, if you will.

 

Entomology Notes about the Southern Pine Beetle

For example, this report shows specimens processed in May of 1975. Although the names of these creatures seems innocuous at first glance, upon further inspection it becomes clear that these bugs are quite ugly indeed, weakening and destroying plants they infect. Armyworms, for example, feed in the nighttime hours on succulent greens (stems and leaves) of plants, weakening them. As they exhaust one food supply, they move forward in armies to the next one.  Although armyworms prefer grasses and cereals, they have also been known to feed on vegetable crops.

This report is a summary of findings in detecting certain insects that have economic effects on agriculture in North Carolina. The corn earworm is one of the most destructive insects. It infects many different kinds of plants, but prefers corn. The worms infect both the fruit and the foliage of the corn stalks, leaving holes and other damage.

NC State has an integrated pest management (IPM) program that uses information gleaned from reports like these to develop plans guidelines for controlling these “ugly bugs”.

For more information on these and other insects you see in these reports, go to:

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/ent/notes/O&T/trees/note06/note06.html

http://ipm.ncsu.edu/

http://ipm.ncsu.edu/AG295/html/armyworm.htm

http://ipm.ncsu.edu/AG271/corn_sorghum/corn_earworm.html
http://ipm.ncsu.edu/AG295/html/index.htm