A new species of moth discovered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Fairborn, OH, has been named after Wilber and Orville Wright. The new species, Glyphidocera wrightorum, was found during a survey initiated by the Office of Environmental Management through an agreement with the Ohio Chapter of The Nature Conservancy. Begun in 1992, the survey has listed 28 species of moths never before recorded in Ohio. Specimens of G. wrightorum were collected in 1994 and 1995 on the 110-acre Huffman Prairie by Eric H. Metzler, an entomologist with the Ohio Lepidopterist Society. The prairie is an Ohio-registered Natural Refuge and National Landmark. ARS scientists identified and categorized the moth as belonging to the genus Glyphidocera. They named its species "wrightorum," which is Latin for "of the Wrights." The Wright brothers made their first successful sustained, powered air flights in a heavier-than-air machine in North Carolina on December 17, 1903. The scientists believe the new species is a living remnant of prairie ecology that existed in Ohio for many centuries. G. wrightorum is one of many species in the genus that are only found in the New World. Nothing is known yet of the moth's host-plant associations. The scientists reported their findings, describing the G. wrightorum, in The Proceeding of the Entomological Society of Washington, April 2000.

Systematic Entomology Laboratory, Smithsonian Natural History Museum, Washington, DC
David N. Adamski, (202) 382-1778, dadamski@sel.barc.usda.gov

Ruddy, an attractive, red-skinned sweetpotato from ARS and university researchers, is sweet and moist, with excellent baking quality and flavor. Sweetpotatoes are a highly nutritious vegetable. Medium-orange sweetpotatoes contain very high levels of beta-carotene—more than the Recommended Dietary Allowance of vitamin A—as well as high levels of fiber, vitamin C, and folic acid. Ruddy is the first attractive, red-skinned, orange flesh sweetpotato with multiple pest resistance to insects, diseases, and nematodes to be developed by ARS scientists working with researchers at the South Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station, Clemson University. It produces high yields and keeps well under long-term storage. Ruddy is highly resistant to the larvae of soil insects—the southern potato wireworm, tobacco wireworm, banded and striped cucumber beetle, elongate flea beetle, and pale striped flea beetle. It is more susceptible to white grub larvae than the insect-resistant cultivar Regal. Ruddy is highly resistant to Fusarium wilt and two races of the southern root-knot nematode. Ruddy is a cross of two parents—maternal parent W119 and one of 30 possible parental clones selected for high levels of multiple-pest resistance combined with good horticultural traits. Small quantities of foundation seed roots, sprouts, and cuttings of Ruddy will be available to researchers and others for the 2001 crop season. Genetic material can also be obtained from the Sweetpotato Clonal Repository at Griffin, GA.

U.S. Vegetable Laboratory, Charleston, SC
Janice Bohac, (843) 556-0840, jbohac@awod.com

An experimental line of sugar beets, known as M6-1, can shrug off attack by some of the world's most notorious root-knot nematodes. This natural resistance to nematodes might be bred into commercial sugar beet varieties to help them fend off these microscopic, soil-dwelling pests. What's more, the gene or genes that enable M6-1 to thwart nematodes might someday be shuttled into other kinds of crops—including peaches, beans, potatoes, or tomatoes—that might otherwise fall victim to the voracious worms. The M6-1 sugar beets apparently are the first plants in the world known to exhibit resistance to six especially troublesome Meloidognye species. These species make up an estimated 98 percent of the root-knot nematodes in the globe's agricultural soils. A Swiss chard relative, sugar beets provide not only sugar, but also feed for livestock, leafy greens for backyard gardeners, and raw materials for yeast, industrial chemicals, and pharmaceuticals. The California Beet Growers Association, Ltd., Stockton, CA, helped fund the research.

Crop Improvement and Protection Research Unit, Salinas, CA
Ming H. Yu, ( 831) 755-2845, myu@salinas.ars.usda.gov

Pima cotton plants that are better able to fend off attack by pink bollworm and silverleaf whitefly—two major pests of cotton in the American West—are among the newest breeding lines offered to seed companies, growers, and researchers. The plants also are ready to harvest earlier than some other pima types. That reduces the need for water, pesticides, and fertilizers that the plants would otherwise require if they took longer to develop. Known to scientists as Gossypium barbadense, the new pimas result from a highly successful, ongoing collaboration between ARS and University of Arizona researchers. The partnership has yielded more than 200 different pima genetic lines or varieties during the past 40 years. In fact, nearly every type of pima grown commercially today in the United States has some ARS lineage. Pima cotton is prized because it can be woven into durable, long-wearing fabrics for high-quality clothing or other premium cotton goods. Breeders of conventional or upland cotton, called G. hirsutum, may also benefit from the pima research. That's because—with some extra work—pima and upland cottons can be crossbred.

Western Cotton Research Laboratory, Maricopa, AZ
Richard G. Percy, (602) 379-4331, rpercy@ag.arizona.edu