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Two student members of the Entomological Society of Canada have videos entered in the NSERC-CRSNG Science, Action! competition. The contest, open to students across Canada, aims to share NSERC-CRSNG funded research through 60 second videos, and offers a cash prize of $3,000 to the winning entries. The first round of public voting is now open, and both students would appreciate your support by viewing and sharing their entries, helping highlight entomology research in Canada.

Michael Hrabar,  MSc Student at Simon Fraser University

Bed bugs have become a global epidemic. Detecting infestations early is the key to successful eradication. Scientists at Simon Fraser University have identified the bed bug aggregation pheromone. They extracted the pheromone from the bugs’ feces and cast cuticle, and analyzed extracts by state-of-the-art technology including gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. In lab and field bioassays, they demonstrated that a 6-component pheromone blend is highly effective in attracting bed bugs to, and retaining them in, cardboard shelter traps. The pheromone technology can now be developed as a tool to help detect, and possibly control, bed bug infestations.

Morgan Jackson*, PhD Candidate at the University of Guelph

Flies, two-winged insects in the order Diptera, are an important and understudied component of Canada’s biodiversity. With nearly 8,000 species known from Canada, and likely as many more still to be discovered, flies impact our lives every day, either as pests and disease vectors, or as pollinators, decomposers and in many other ways. At the University of Guelph Insect Collection, we’re working to understand the diversity of flies from coast to coast and beyond our borders by studying their natural history and taxonomy using comparative morphology and DNA. By combining fieldwork with museum-based research, we’re helping catalog Canada’s dipteran diversity.

*Disclaimer: Morgan Jackson is an administrator of the ESC Blog.