U. S.
Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service
Wayne
Hunter,
Ph.D.
Research
Entomologist
U. S. Horticultural Research
Laboratory
2001 South Rock Road
Fort Pierce, FL 34945
Telephone: (561) 462-5898
Fax: (561) 462-5986
Email: WHunter@ushrl.ars.usda.gov
Current Research Projects
Dr. Hunter is conducting research on the epidemiology of citrus tristeza virus transmission by the brown citrus aphid, Toxoptera citricida. This entails examination of the aphid's biology, host preferences, and the virus-plant-insect interactions, which lead to the transmission of citrus tristeza viruses. Current research is on the screening of citrus varieties for natural resistance to either the aphid or to citrus tristeza virus infection. Dr. Hunter also works on invasive insect vectors such as the silverleaf whitefly and the asian citrus psyllid. Additionally, he works with insect tissue culture and establishes insect cell lines to study plant disease transmission.
 brown citrus aphid |
 Brown citrus aphids on citrus. |
 asian citrus psyllid |
Selected Publications
Hunter, W.B. & H.T. Hsu. 1999. Synthetic diets and piercing-sucking insect research. Intl. J. Ecol. Environ. Science 25: 259-266.
Tang, Y.Q., S.L. Lapointe, L.C. Brown, and W. B. Hunter. 1999. Effects of host plant and temperature on the biology of Toxoptera citricida (Homoptera: Aphididae). Environ. Entomol.
28(5): 895-900.
Hunter, W. B., E. Hiebert, S. E. Webb, J. H. Tsai & J. E. Polston. 1997. Location of geminivirus in the whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae). Plant Dis. 82: 1147-1151.
Hunter, W. B., E. Hiebert, S. Webb, J. E. Polston & J. H. Tsai. 1996. Precibarial and cibarial chemosensilla in the whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius), (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae). Intl. J. Insect Morphol.& Embryol. 25(3): 295-304.
Hunter, W. B. & H. T. Hsu. 1996. Formulation of an insect medium for thrips monolayer cell cultures (Thysanoptera: Thripidae: Frankliniella occidentalis). J. Invert. Pathol. 67:125-128.
Hunter, W. B. & H. T. Hsu. 1996. Inoculation of thrips cell mono-layers with a tospovirus. pp. 359-363. In International Symposium on Tospoviruses and Thrips of Floral and Vegetable Crops. George Kuo (ed). Acta Horticulturae, No. 431. ISHS. Asian Vegetable Research & Development Center, AVRDC.
Hunter, W. B. & H. T. Hsu. 1995. Establishing Thrips Cell Cultures to Study Tospoviruses. pp. 163-166. In Thrips Biology and Management, Bruce L. Parker, Margaret Skinner, and Trevor Lewis (eds). Plenum Press, New York.
Hunter, W. B., H. T. Hsu & R. Lawson. 1995. A novel method for acquisition of Tospoviruses by thrips. Phytopathology 85(4): 480-483.
Last modified: 2/14/2001. Send comments or questions to RMayer@ushrl.ars.usda.gov