LANSING, Mich. – The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) wants people to think more about bugs: good bugs, bad bugs, and everything in between. For that, it’s devised the Buggin’ Out video series – short presentations designed to educate the public about the tiny world of insects and their varied effects on people.

So far, the department has produced two videos, one on pollinators, including honey bees and the many other bees, often called wild bees, that pollinate farmers’ crops along with a myriad of flowers and other plants. That video was presented by MDARD entomologist Mike Philip.

“We’re excited to share our passion and insight on insects, what they can do to help our farmers, while educating and empowering Michiganders to take action against the spread of invasive species, to know how to combat pests in and around their home and to gain a better understanding of the significant impact insects have on our lives,” Philip said.

Philip is MDARD’s pesticide and plant pest management division director. “An educated public can help support Michigan’s diverse ecosystems and protect the environment and be our first line of defense against harmful pests,” he added. Michigan residents have already been helpful in identifying occurrences of Hemlock woolly adelgid, a tiny, invasive insect that can damage and even kill Hemlock.

The second video, presented by MDARD’s Rob Miller, is about the Spotted Lanternfly, a bug that recently appeared in Michigan and has been in Pennsylvania for several years. Spotted Lanternfly is native to several countries in Asia. According to the video, tree-of-heaven is the insect’s favorite host, however, Spotted Lanternfly can feed on fruit crops and on woody plants. MDARD would also like residents to be on the lookout for that bug.

The idea for this series came from Jennifer Holton, director of communications at MDARD. “We’ve got a great opportunity to share people’s knowledge and passion around entomology and bugs,” Holton said. “We want the videos to be fun and educational. It’s very cool, you don’t realize how many different kinds of bees and other bugs are out there. Mike Philip, our resident entomologist, just gets so excited about bugs and often gives presentations to school kids.”

Holton said there has been a very good response to the first two videos. “People are more interested in this than I thought they would be, so you never know where it could go,” she said. “We’ll keep doing the series as long as we get good engagement and people’s interest, including clicks on the videos and shares. I’m also interested in expanding what this is going to be about, not just insects.”

All the videos can be viewed at MDARD’s YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/Miagriculture.