Bug Squad

It was not a good day for a flower fly. A flower fly, aka syrphid fly, dropped down in a patch of pink roses at the Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven at UC Davis today to sip nectar. It was a pink-rose kind of day. Not for the flower fly, though. A crab spider, lying in wait, pounced.

When we think about honey bees, we ought to think about the immune system. Understanding the honey bees immune system is crucial to battling the declining honey bee population, says University of California insect virus researcher Michelle Flenniken.

Do you brake for wasps? We spotted a bumper sticker on the UC Davis campus the other day that read: "I brake for wasps." It was parked in the Briggs Hall loading zone--Briggs is the home of the UC Davis Department of Entomology--so I imagine it was braking for wasps right then and there.

Ladybugs, aka ladybird beetles, are out there. Walk through the garden and they're easy to find. Last weekend we spotted one tucked in the heart of an artichoke, another climbing a nectarine tree, and still another perched on an artichoke leaf.

"How are the bees doing?" That's the question beekeepers are asked all year. Well, today the annual survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Apiary Inspectors of America (AIA) answered that question. The response? Roughly the same.