The Skyline Newspaper

Cartoon by Jon Smith

Attack Of The Giant Bugs

By Dr. Christopher M. Ritzi
Department Chair and Assistant Professor of Biology

Recently, several people have asked me to identify a particular buggy beast that has been plaguing folks around the Alpine area.

The basic description I have been hearing is that it is a giant stink bug on steroids, with huge hind legs, a broad black body, and orange-tipped antenna and feet. These insects have been found in large numbers on people's trees, homes, and even on our University Center.

Rest assured these bugs are not a sign of genetic experiments, bio-weapons, or the apocalypse. They are simply taking advantage of the nice wet year we have been having, and are more abundant than they normally are.

As far as what they are, they are true bugs, in the Order Hemiptera. As shown by their broad and flattened hind legs, they belong to the Family Coreidae, appropriately named the leaf-footed bugs. The giant beasts we have been seeing, averaging 1 to 2 inches in length, are in the genus Acanthocephala, which has at least 5 different species. Unfortunately from a taxonomic perspective, all 5 species (A. declivis, A. confraterna, A. femorata, A. terminalis, and A. thomasi) occur in Texas. The last species, Acanthocephala thomasi, known as the Giant Agave bug, primarily feeds on agave juice, but will branch out to other plants when they are numerous and their favorite food is not as available. They do this through the use of a feeding tube, or proboscis, which they stick into plants and suck fluids into their body much like a straw.

Although they don't feed on animals, they can be quite a nuisance for some of our plants. Being that they are fluid feeders, most sprays and pesticides are not very effective controls, unless they get drawn up into the plant itself. The best means of control is hand crushing, if they are actively feeding on your plants.

If they are just hanging out in the area, my recommendation is to live and let live, and marvel at these large orange-legged wonders.

Put Another Log On The Fire - And Maybe a Thicker Air Mattress

Steve Lang
News And Publications

Life is what happens when you are making other plans." - Allen Saunders

Youth in perpetuity remains a dream. Perhaps simplicity may prolong it; perhaps not.

I remain uncertain as to how I reached this stage. Not long ago - or so it seems - I was living in a tent, minding my own business. The only similarity between then and now is having no cable TV. Life was simpler.

My longtime friend Dave Balgaard seems to have mastered simplicity while remaining a Minnesota Norwegian bachelor farmer. He defies Garrison Keillor's observation of Norwegian bachelor farmers: "the odds are good that the goods are odd."

And then again, maybe he doesn't.

"It's just too complicated," he once said of meaningful relationships, including matrimony. For a man who literally lives where he works, sometimes hunts out his back door and takes a short walk through the woods to launch his fishing boat, I fully understand his stance.

These days, Dave does not fall into the thrill-seeking category, although he has sky-dived, snow-skied some of the major resorts in the West, engaged in trick water-skiing stunts, hunted crows while riding a cow, lived in a tree house and is a descendant of the legendary Snowshoe Thompson, who skied over the High Sierra Mountains to deliver mail to the California gold camps.

Lately, he prefers a quieter life, including pitching horseshoes, golfing and hunting waterfowl, turkey, pheasants and deer. He has remodeled his barn to accommodate himself, his Springer Spaniel and all the game and fish specimens brought to him annually for his taxidermy skills.

"But I don't do snakes," he insists, still shuddering from part of his early training at the International Institute of Scientific Taxidermy in Nisswa, MN.

He even sets decoys on his front lawn for the early Canada goose season.

"I've gotten about six that way," he said one Sunday morning not long ago.

"I can watch out my glass front door and if a flock locks in, all I have to do is set down my coffee cup and pick up the 12 gauge."

Purists might take exception to that type of hunting, especially those who subscribe to "Field and Stream," watch The Outdoor Channel and send their dogs to obedience school. Therefore I won't go into detail about the time Dave crept down from his combine during a corn harvest and, armed with a pry bar, successfully stalked a pheasant.

Together, we have crawled through pastures and corn rows for a chance at geese and ducks, slept on the rim of the Grand Canyon in mid-February and camped in various conditions through several states.

After writing columns poking fun at my own shortcomings, Dave probably ranks as my second-most popular subject.
He raises no objections, but seems thankful I have moved 1,600 miles away.

"Absence not only makes the heart grow fonder, it shortens the attention span," Dave said.

"I'm closing in on Social Security and it's time for the next generation to be creative."

Perhaps. But do not count on somebody spending a winter in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, sleeping in a 6 x 10 cabin mounted on the back of a one-ton truck. Between fall pheasant and spring turkey seasons, Dave took a few weeks off, drove to a ski resort and worked on the trail crew in exchange for free skiing. At night, he stoked up the wood-burner in the cabin, crawled into his bunk and enjoyed his mobile lodgings.

We traveled from Minnesota to Iowa in the "Winnie" for several years, hunting pheasant and camping in abandoned farm sites or pastures.

Dave provided numerous tours of our accommodations and received a few reactions of disbelief, along with some wistful sighs.

We burned wood, cooked over a camp stove and at times, one of us might catch a nap while the other hunted. Some years, a tent - also used in the Balgaard family elk hunts - was set up, providing lodging for up to 10, and by crowding together, maybe garage space for Dave's pickup.

Time marches on, though, and while we kept pace, we began to appreciate more creature comforts. The last time we met in Iowa, heading in opposite directions from Baja Ontario and Baja Oklahoma, we made a concession to post-50 membership and over a quarter-century of hunting there.

Our hunting partners now spanned three generations of one family, and we were camping at the son's farm after a day of tromping the fields with the grandson.

"I think I've got the ideal set-up," I told Dave.

"Last night, I backed my Explorer into Arlan's shop and slept in the back. No tent, no muss, no fuss."

"I've got a better one," Dave replied, "back the Explorer out and help me put up these bunks."

In short order, metal-framed, canvas-mattressed, double-decker bunks were set up. Before I could question the comfort level, my Lab, Sandy, jumped on the lower bed and Dave's Springer Spaniel Chester eyed the upper.

Dave cradled the dog in his huge hands and plopped him topside.

"Just stay off my pillow," he commanded.

Steve Lang sleeps well in the outdoors, just not as often lately.

Letter To The Editor

I'd like to defend The Skyline staff from last week's suggestion that they "open their eyes."

As a former college newspaper editor, I know how difficult it is to find and cover all the news on campus.
Instead of complaining, how about simply sending what you know to the newspaper!

All ideas are welcome and most will find publication. They will be glad to give you a by-line or not. They will fix your spelling. Help them, don't attack them.

Barney Nelson

Letter To The Editor

The Family Crisis Center of the Big Bend and Sul Ross State University Counseling and Advising Center wish to thank all those who helped make Domestic Violence Awareness Night a success.

We wish to give special thanks to the students and faculty of SRSU who created the banner on healthy relationships and those that joined us on the walk to the courthouse.

We also want to give a special thank you to Rep. Pete Gallego's office, the District Attorney's Office, and the Brewster County Sheriff's Department for speaking at the courthouse, as well as the Alpine Police Department for their assistance on the walk and speaking at the courthouse too.

Lovika De Koninck
Helen Crane