Zoology and entomology.

Chair: Julius Ikenga, Mississippi Valley State University 

Vice-chair: Alex D. W. Acholonu, Alcorn State University 

THURSDAY MORNING

Hunter Henry Executive Room 8

9:00 PHYLOGENY OF LARGE WOLF SPIDERS FROM THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES.

Gail Stratton*, University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677

The large wolf spiders in the Southeastern United States include members of the current genera, I>Gladicosa, Geolycosa, Hogna, Rabidosa and others. Although there have been taxonomic revisions of wolf spiders in the last 30 years of several of the genera, there has not yet been a comprehensive revision of lycosids since Chamberlin 1908. In addition there has not been a phylogenetic study to test ideas of generic placements and to present hypotheses of relationship. The present study investigated 36 species of wolf spiders by scoring 115 morphological characters including somatic characters, male palpal characters and female epigynal characters. Data were recorded in MacClade, and maximum parsimony analyses were conducted using Paup (ver. 4.0b 10) by using heuristic searches with 1000 random starting points and the Stepwise-addition option. Characters of interest were then mapped onto the resulting trees to investigate evolution of characters such as burrowing behavior. This study suggests that some genera are monophyletic but others are not.

9:15 WATER QUALITY STUDIES ON FRESHWATER BODIES IN NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA AFTER HURRICANE KATRINA

Alex D. W. Acholonu, Tiffari Jenkins*, Michelle Kinnard, Sherita White, Tandeka Phipps, and Tammy Williams, Alcorn State University, Lorman, MS 39096

After Hurricane Katrina occurred on August 28-29, 2005, on the Gulf Coast, much of New Orleans was flooded. Freshwater bodies and drinking water in the affected areas were polluted with high levels of coliform bacteria, fungi, pesticides and toxic chemicals. Lake Pontchartrain and Mississippi River were said to be dump sites for pollutants in addition to the flooding. Flood water fouled with human and animal remains, sewage, heavy metals, petrochemicals and other hazardous substances were pumped into Lake Pontchartrain. This makes periodic monitoring of these large water bodies necessary to assess the level of contamination still existing as well as smaller bodies like ponds. The purpose of this study was to find out the quality of these water bodies after one year of the hurricane occurrence as well as the Southern University, New Orleans (SUNO) Golf Course pond (especially as SUNO was one of the sites badly flooded because of the hurricane). Water samples were collected for two consecutive times from each of Lake Pontchartrain, Mississippi River and the Golf Course pond at SUNO and tested for contaminants using several chemical parameters. The results and analysis of the results show that the parameters tested met the MS/EPA Water Quality Criteria with the exception of a few.

9:30 PREVALENCE OF TUBERCULOSIS (TB) AND HIV INFECTION IN IMO STATE, NIGERIA

Alex D. W. Acholonu (1*), A. Njoku (2), and Abram Dunbar (1), (1) Alcorn State University, Lorman, MS 39096 and (2) Imo State University, Owerri, Nigeria

There have been reported cases of association of tuberculosis (TB) caused by Mycobactetium tuberculosis, with Human Immunodeficiency Virus infection. The purpose of this study was to find out the prevalence of TB and HIV infection among people from Orlu in Imo State, Nigeria. During the period of August 2004 to September 2005, test samples were collected from both male and female respondents from Orlu aged one year to sixty years and examined for tuberculosis and HIV infection. Of 8197 specimens examined, 151 (1.84%) were positive for TB and 132 (1.61%) were positive for HIV infection. Analysis of the results will be presented.

9:45 WORKSHOP

ANIMAL TISSUE PREPARATION FOR MICRO- AND ULTRAMICRO-ANATOMY STUDIES

Julius O. Ikenga, Mississippi Valley State University, Itta Bena, MS 38941

Tissue preparation is an important tool in advancing the microscopic studies of special association between animals. This association may exist at the level of mutualism, commensalisms, phoresis, or parasitism. Animal tissue preparation falls broadly into seven main steps: tissue acquisition, fixation and washing, extraction and infiltration, embedding, curing, sectioning, and staining. Carefully obtained and diced animal tissue is fixed in a solution of commercially available fixatives. The later range from formalaldehyde, gluteraldehyde, to osmium tetroxide solutions, depending on type of tissue and purpose. Extraction is normally accomplished using graded alcohol solutions, preferably, ethanol. Infiltration and embeddiing are achieved using a variety of commercially available epoxides. Samples are subsequently cured in an oven and then sectioned on a microtome. Sections are collected on commercially available grids for Electron microscopy and on glass slides for light microscopy and then stained. Samples collected on grids and glass slides are respectively examined on Electron microscope and light compound microscope.

Poster Session: 10:15a to 11:30a (in room)

10:15 A PHYLOGENY OF GENERA IN TRIBE TELEIODINI (LEPIDOPTERA: GELECHIIDAE) IN THE HOLARCTIC REGION

Sangmi Lee* and Richard L. Brown, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS 39762

Teleiodini (Gelechiidae: Gelechiinae) includes 60 species in 18 genera in the Palearctic region and 113 species in 12 genera in the Nearctic region. This study provides the first phylogenetic analysis of generic relationships for Holarctic Teleiodini based on morphological data and provides a hypothesis to explain distributional patterns. This analysis includes all 23 genera of Teleiodini and four outgroup genera in the Holarctic Region. Character states were determined by examination of imagos, genitalia, and whole body mounts of specimens. A total of 61 morphological characters with 202 states were found to have informative value. The morphological matrix was made using MacClade and consisted of 27 terminals. The morphological data set was analyzed using PAUP version 4.0b10 for Macintosh. Bremer support values were calculated in Nona using the command bsupport 5. The heuristic search for the most parsimonious tree recovered 6 trees with equal lengths of 318 steps. These trees have a retention index of 0.4861, a rescaled consistency index of 0.2033, and a consistency index of 0.4182. This analysis supports the monophyly of Teleiodini with a high Bremer support value of 4 for the tribe. The distribution pattern suggests five derivations of taxa in the Nearctic Region and five derivations of taxa in the Palearctic Region.

10:30 USE OF MICROCOSM STUDIES TO ASSESS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AQUATIC PLANTS AND SOIL MICROORGANISMS

Charles Rucker (1*), Mark Weaver (2), Robert Zablotowicz (2), Rachel Beecham (1), (1) Mississippi Valley State University, Itta Bena, MS 38941 and (2) USDA-ARS, Stoneville, MS 38776

In this mini wetland study on the relationship between aquatic plants and soil microorganisms, I tried to show the difference in the soil microbial activity by performing a series of tests on the basic composition of the soil in each plot in the microcosm study. The plant species in this experiment were expected to promote the growth of different microbial communities in the soil and rhizosphere. We examined the soil for differences in the microbial communities, as represented by Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAME) and determined if they had different enzymatic properties. Through the process of natural selection these species of aquatic plants should flourish due to their invasive behavior. Each plant in this study had its own unique microbial population equipped with enzymatic properties that act as catalyst in the decomposition of nutrients and other organic pollutant. Due to years of ecology and environmental safety, nature should reduce the levels of deposits from unavoidable forces that must evolve such as erosion. This is positive feed back from the effort of the scientist at USDA-ARS Stoneville, Ms that serve as environmental protectors who find more ecosafe ways to carry out agricultural evolutions.

10:45 ANTS IN MISSISSIPPI STATE PARKS 

Joe A. MacGown*, JoVonn G. Hill, and Rebekah J. Jones, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS 39762

The objectives of this study were to survey Mississippi's state parks for ants to provide baseline data on the diversity and distributions of native and exotic species. The state parks provide ideal collecting localities because they are spread throughout Mississippi and offer an array of habitats. Collections were made from the spring of 2005 through late summer of 2006 in 17 of the 24 state parks. Ants were collected by a variety of methods for two to four hours at each park, identified, and stored in the Mississippi Entomological Museum. This survey resulted in the collection of 88 native species, including one that is undescribed, and ten exotic species (plus the hybrid fire ant). These included six new state records, three species only recently described, six species that were only recently reported, and 25 species that are rarely collected. Differences in the diversity and assemblages of ants have been observed with the greatest diversity found thus far from Wall Doxey State Park in Marshall County with a total of 56 species documented. Areas with high concentrations of exotic species, especially in the southern portion of the state, have been found to have lower diversity. A web site documenting ants found in Mississippi State Parks has been prepared that includes collecting trip logs, species lists, and photos of the parks and/or ant species (http://www.msstate.edu/or/mississippientmuseurn/Researchtaxa a es/Formicidae a es/MS.state.~k.ants.htm).

11:00 A PRELIMINARY LIST OF THE ORTHOPTEROID INSECTS OF THE GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK 

Matt E. Dakin and JoVonn G. Hill*, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS 39762

Due to recent concern over what appears to be rapidly declining levels of biodiversity, Discover Life in America initiated the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory, whose main goal is to catalog all the living organisms in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Taxonomists from all over the world have been awarded grants and volunteered their time to this cause. This project will provide checklists, reports, databases, maps, and natural history information for future reference in monitoring biodiversity in the park. As part of this project the authors have been surveying the Orthoptera and associated orders of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for several years. Thus far, we have documented approximately 100 species of Orthopteroid insects as occurring in the park, along with spatial and temporal information. This includes 45 species belonging to the Orthoptera sub-order Caelifera (grasshoppers, grouse locusts, and pygmy mole crickets), as well as 46 species belonging to the suborder Ensifera (camel, cave, mole, true crickets, and katydids). Other orders under study include Phasmida (walking sticks), Mantodea (mantids), and Blattaria (roaches).

11:15 ACENTROPINAE (CRAMBIDAE) OF MISSISSIPPI AND ALABAMA

Edda L. Martinez* and Richard L. Brown, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS 39762

The subfamily Acentropinae (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) includes 22 species in 11 genera of moths in Mississippi and Alabama. Larvae of these species are associated with aquatic habitats. Only five species in three genera previously have been reported to occur in Mississippi and Alabama. Eleven species are in genera restricted to lentic habitats, six species are in genera occurring in both lentic and lotic habitats, and five species are in genera with unknown habitat preferences. The purpose of this poster is to provide new distributional records for 17 species of Acentropinae from Mississippi and Alabama. Distribution maps and photographs of imagos are provided.

11:30 Divisional Business Meeting