[Photo Contest] Worth a Thousand Words

In December, PCT announced that Dong-Hwan Choe, a graduate student in the University of California-Riverside’s Entomology Department, was the winner of PCT’s fourth annual Best Pest Photo Contest. Choe’s winning entry is an up-close photo of a pair of Argentine ants (Linepithema humile) tending citrus mealy bugs (Planococcus citri). The ants are on an orange that is part of a citrus grove at UC-Riverside.
“Having mutualistic association with various kinds of Homopteran insects, invasive Argentine ants make the biological control of Homopteran pests significantly less effective,” Choe said of the photo. “In this picture, Argentine ants are tending citrus mealy bug and taking honeydew droplets produced by the mealy bug. Tending Argentine ants interrupt the parasitism of Homopterans by attacking or disturbing their natural enemies. Homopteran honeydew is known as major carbohydrate source for Argentine ants in many citrus-growing agricultural settings.”
Choe took the photo using a Canon EOS D60 with a special 65 millimeter lens for magnification.
PCT Online received more than 75 entries in this year’s contest. PCT’s judges reviewed all of these photos, narrowed the entries to 11 and then determined that Choe’s photo was No. 1. Choe receives a $500 prize for his winning photo.
Choe’s winning photo, as well as several finalists, appear on these two pages. To view additional finalist photos visit www.pctonline.com.