Fri, Jul 04, 2008
Carl Olson, associate curator of the UA's Insect Research Collection, holds an African emperor scorpion. He keeps track of 750,000 specimens.
Benjie Sanders / Arizona Daily Star
Prestige maintenance USA Custodian Administrative & Professional Tucson Symphony Teleservices Sales/Courtesy Rep Health Care FRONT OFFICE Trades/Construction Pioneer Landscaping Yard Person/Loader Operator Trades/Construction Jacobs Electric Electricians & Helpers Trades/Construction Pioneer Landscaping Yard Person/Loader Operator General ADVANCED AUTOMOTIVE DISPATCHER/SECRETARY Tucson RegionBonnie Henry : 'Bugman' likes all creepy-crawliesTucson, Arizona | Published: 01.27.2006
Roaches crawling up restaurant walls or over the menus don't faze him a bit.
Just don't let him catch you with a can of Raid in your hand.
"People have no tolerance. They think all bugs are bad," says Carl Olson. "It's the American way. If you don't like something, kill it."
As associate curator of the University of Arizona's Insect Research Collection, Olson is passionate about bugs — beetles to aphids, ants to tarantulas.
Understandable, considering he's in charge of keeping tabs on close to 750,000 of 'em, some dating back to the late 1800s.
"Stuff has to get updated all the time," says Olson, 58, who labors under a larger-than-life fly dangling above the computer in his tiny office on the UA campus.
Behind him sits a stack of papers, just part of the 2,500-3,000 requests he gets every year from folks with bug questions.
"They can call or e-mail, too (621-5925 or bugman@ag.arizona.edu), but I'd rather see the bug," says Olson, who also gets calls from doctors inquiring about possible bug bites.
"Most of the time, it's probably not a bug bite. I blame the plants, which makes my botanist friends mad," Olson says with a hearty laugh.
Here is a man secure in his job — one he obviously loves.
It's a fascination that began when he was growing up in rural Ohio, where he collected bugs everywhere from cornfields to beneath the gas station lights.
Armed with a bachelor's degree in zoology and a master's in biology, Olson went to work for a time during the early '70s for a biological control company in California.
"We would go out in the fields, look at the parasites and predators. It was life in the palm of your hand."
Rather than using poisons, this was a "my-bug-can-eat-your-bug" type of control. "I grew my share of maggots," says Olson.
In 1975, he hired on at the UA, starting at the bottom as a research tech. He's been there ever since.
A naturally gregarious sort, Olson often gets pulled aside at parties. "People ask questions like, 'How do I get rid of the cricket behind my refrigerator?' " His answer: Leave the cricket be.
"I want to change people's attitudes about bugs," he says.
And the No. 1 thing he wants to change is our propensity to grab a can of bug spray.
"If you must get rid of a roach, use mechanical control," says Olson. As in your shoe or trusty fly swatter.
Roaches, he preaches, are better controlled through sanitation and tight-fitting doors.
In fact, he's working with schools in Tucson and Phoenix, helping them control their bug problems not with spray but with what he calls integrated pest management, which strives to keep bugs outside through proper sealing and sanitation.
Ironically, Olson has had less success in his own building. "We had a Southern fire ant in the candy machine. I was gone. They sprayed the whole thing with Black Flag. I told them, 'Don't come in my building again.' "
Thanks to our varied climates, Arizona, says Olson, has the greatest diversity of bugs in the whole country.
What we don't have a lot of are what he calls the blood suckers — horseflies, mosquitoes and such. "If you want to get your blood sucked, go to Florida."
In a land crawling with centipedes and scorpions, our most dangerous bug, says Olson, is the honeybee.
"People become allergic to the venom. One honeybee sting can kill."
So has he ever been bitten by a bug? "Oh, yeah. And stung, too. I've done stupid things. I was turning over a rock while talking to a guy and got stung by a bark scorpion. It was no big deal."
Not surprising, coming from a man who insists, "There's no such thing as a bad bug."
● Bonnie Henry's column appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Reach her at 434-4074 or at bhenry@azstarnet.com or write to 3295 W. Ina Road, Suite 125, Tucson, AZ 85741.
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