Bug Squad

It's not often that "beer, butterfly and Obama" land in the same sentence. But such was the case Monday, Jan. 21 for butterfly expert Art Shapiro, professor of evolution and ecology at the University of California, Davis.

When it comes to honey bee health, beekeepers know that the Varroa mite (Varroa destructor) ranks as "Beekeeping Enemy No. 1." These are terrible blood-sucking parasites that attack bees and raise havoc in the hive. They transmit a variety of diseases and can destroy a hive.

The bush germander (Teucrium fruticans) is definitely a great fall-winter plant that's a magnet for bees. Just look at the bees that frequent the germander in the Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven on Bee Biology Road at UC Davis.

They'll be zeroing in on pests at the next meeting of the Northern California Entomology Society. Scientists from the Essig Museum of Entomology, UC Berkeley, and the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), Sacramento, will speak at the meeting on Wednesday, Feb.

"Landscape Conservation for Rare Insects!" That's the title of a seminar to be hosted by the UC Davis Department of Entomology on Wednesday, Jan. 23. Nick Haddad, the William Neal Reynolds Professor of Biology at North Carolina State University (NCSU), Raleigh, N.C., will speak from 12:10 to 1 p.m.