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Bugs on video may be a first

Extension entomologist Donald Lewis identified several insects for the Woodbury County Extension office last summer. What made the event unique was that the insects were in Sioux City and Lewis was in Ames. Lewis identified the insects by looking at their images on his computer screen, a first for extension entomology in Iowa and, it appears, the nation. The test demonstrated that the technology works.

Mailing specimens across the state takes several days and can result in damaged insects. ISU officials would like to provide insect-identifying video equipment at several extension offices around Iowa. "There was suitable resolution to identify small insects," Lewis said. But he warned, "We'll never get the bugs out of the project."

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Diana Pounds, University Relations, dpounds@iastate.edu
Copyright © 1997, Iowa State University, all rights reserved
URL: http://www.iastate.edu/IaStater/1997/feb/shortsbug.html
Revised: February 1997