Grad Student Interviewed about Emerald Ash Borer Bio-Surveillance

UMaine graduate student Tawny Virgilio was interviewed Thursday by Channel 5 (WABI) for an evening news broadcast about a bio-surveillance project she’s doing under the supervision of entomology professor Eleanor Groden to determine the hunting habits of a wasp that catches beetles, including the destructive emerald ask borer. The wasp Cerceris fumipennis doesn’t sting people, and may provide entomologists and Maine forestry researchers another way to determine if the emerald ash borer beetle exists yet in Maine.

Contact: George Manlove, (207) 581-3756