Filtering by tag: Health & Nutrition ✕

A Google street view of the front of the Varsity Research Building, Module 10

Big Changes Coming to the PDIC This Spring!

Two significant changes are coming to the PDIC this spring: Our lab will be moving to the Varsity Research Building (Module 10). We will be launching a new database app (replacing the current…

A black cicada with orange red eyes and orange markings and wings, rests on the smooth bark of a holly tree with the blues sky in the background.

Here They Come Again! More Periodical Cicadas Will Emerge This Spring

If you missed them last year or didn't get your fill, you'll have another chance to see periodical cicadas (Cicadidae: Magicicada) in NC this year! If you were utterly annoyed by them, hopefully you…

A wasp sitting on lichen-covered bark. It is mostly dark with some yellow markings

Yellow-Legged Hornet Found in Georgia

As if we needed another large wasp to strike fear in residents of the US, the state of Georgia is reporting the detection of a single specimen of the yellow-legged hornet (Vespa velutina) near the…

An image of a reddish-brown tick, the deer or blacklegged tick, on a white background

What's That Tick? New Identification Guide to Species in North Carolina Can Help

As outdoor season begins to ramp up, one unfortunate side effect is more encounters with ticks. These blood-sucking arthropods seek out humans and other animals on which to feed. Several species are…

an adult clover mite, Bryobia sp.

Watch Out for These (Arthropod) Spring Home Invaders

Note: This post was originally published March 2021, and updated March 2023Insects and other arthropods are feeling the warm weather and waking up for spring. Bees, social wasps, bugs, flies, ants,…

photos showing an adult carpet beetle from the top and side. You can see a small, round/oval beetle with patterns of small orange, white and black scales

NC "Spring" Signals Indoor Carpet Beetle Activity

You may be noticing numerous, small (~2-3 mm), round critters crawling along window sills lately -- I know I have been! If so, they are likely carpet beetles (Dermestidae: Anthrenus sp.).The ones…

Photograph of Dr. Charles "Chuck" Hodges at his desk in front of microscopes

Chuck Hodges Second Retirement

It is with immense gratitude that we wish the remarkable Dr. Charles "Chuck" Hodges a very happy "second retirement". His formal retirement was 34 years ago from the U.S. Forest Service.Much of his…

Various molds and yeasts growing on culture media

PDIC Discontinuing Household Mold Identification Service

Beginning January 17th, 2023, the NC State Plant Disease and Insect Clinic (PDIC) will no longer be providing identification services for molds found in homes and other buildings. We understand this…

A heavy-bodied, black spider with shiny legs.

Local Spiders Confused for Deadly Relatives

I've been getting a few emails and calls about large, menacing-looking black spiders that are often confused for exotic, and sometimes deadly, Australian Sydney funnel-web spiders (Atrax robustus).…

A large, red and yellow European hornet waits on the side of a tree.

Wasp Queens Waking Up After Winter Slumber

It's feeling a lot like spring out there! As the warm weather bring feelings of joy from longer days and more time outside, it also means that insects and other arthropods are waking up and becoming…