Bug Squad

Do you know how to keep your bees healthy or do you want to learn more about bees? Registration for the third annual UC Davis Bee Symposium, "Keeping Bees Healthy," set Sunday, May 7 in the UC Davis Conference Center, gets underway on Wednesday, March 1.

Any day's a good day when you find the ootheca (egg case) of a praying mantis in your yard. It's much better than finding an Easter egg. Ootheca comes from the Greek word "oo," meaning egg and the Latin word, "theca," meaning a cover or container.

It's going to be a honey of a festival. Truly. And Amina Harris would love it if you're interested in participating in this event or volunteering.

What are the odds? Native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, distinguished emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis, greeted a visitor on Feb. 14 in his office in the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility. This visitor didn't talk, though. She buzzed.

It's a story that no one is letting him forget. Noted medical entomologist Robert "Bob" Washino, emeritus professor of entomology and a veteran academic administrator at UC Davis, was hanging out in his back yard in Davis last spring when an aedine mosquito bit him.