PCT Announces Winner of 4th Annual Photo Contest

Dong-Hwan Choe, a graduate student in UC-Riverside's Entomology Department, wins PCT's 4th annual Best Pest Photo Contest with this photo of a pair of Argentine ants tending citrus mealy bugs.

CLEVELAND — PCT announces that Dong-Hwan Choe, a graduate student in the University of California-Riverside’s Entomology Department, is the winner of this year's Best Pest Photo Contest. Choe's winning entry is this 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.

Choe explained this photo in detail: “Having mutualistic association with various kinds of homopteran insect, invasive Argentine ants make the biological control of homopteran pest significantly less effective. In this picture, Argentine ants are tending citrus mealy bug and taking honeydew droplets produced by the mealy bug. Tending Argentine ant interrupts the parasitism of homopterans by attacking or disturbing their natural enemies. Homopteran honeydew is known as major carbohydrate source for Argentine ant in many citrus-growing agricultural settings.”

Dong-Hwan Choe

Choe told PCT he shot this 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. Our 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.

Click here to view this year’s finalist photos.