Bug Squad

Bumble bee on bull thistle at Bodega Bay

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UC ANR is renovating its website. The Bug Squad blog, by Kathy Keatley Garvey of the University of California, Davis, is a daily (Monday-Friday) blog launched Aug. 6, 2008. It is about the wonderful world of insects and the entomologists who study them. Blog posts are archived at https://my.ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/archive.cfm

THIS EGG CASE on a potted plant outside the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, UC Davis, will yield from 100 to 200 tiny mantises next spring when the weather warms. A praying mantis recently deposited her eggs on the plant. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Cold Case

October 12, 2009

Here's a "cold case" to investigate. Check your backyard or neighborhood park and see if a praying mantis has deposited an egg case on a tree limb, plant or fence. Case in point: Over at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr.

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THIS VARROA MITE is feeding on a drone pupa. Varroa mites reproduce in the brood cells and attack the developing bees. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Not a Pretty Sight

October 9, 2009

It's not a pretty sight--the Varroa mite attacking a honey bee. Beekeepers are accustomed to seeing the reddish-brown, eight-legged parasite (aka "blood sucker") in their hives. UC Davis bee breeder-geneticist Susan Cobey, manager of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr.

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TINY female sweat bee (Halictus tripartitus) nectaring rock purslane. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Between a Rock and a...

October 8, 2009

Caught between a rock and a...soft place... You'll often see tiny sweat bees nectaring rock purslane (Calandrinia grandiflora) in urban gardens. This plant, a native of Chile, brightens landscapes with its pinkish magenta blossoms.

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SUNFLOWER BEE, Diadasia enavata, forages on a New England Aster in the UC Davis Arboretum. This is a female, as identified by pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Sunny Day, Sunny Bee

October 7, 2009

The UC Davis Aboretum--particularly the Storer Garden--is full of color--and sunflower bees. A recent trip to see the New England Asters (Aster novae-angliae from the Asteraceae or sunflower family) yielded a Nikon moment: fuzzy-wuzzy sunflower bees foraging on the striking purple flowers.

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FIRST SPEAKER--Biological control scientist Madoka Nakai, associate professor, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, will discuss biocontrol of tea pests in her talk, “A Novel Protein from Lepidopteran Virus Killing Endoparasitoid and Viral Control for Tea Pests in Japan,” at noon, Wednesday, Oct. 7 in 122 Briggs Hall, UC Davis. The lecture will be Webcast.

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When Seminars Become Webinars

October 6, 2009

Like to know more about the biocontrol of tea pests? Aging of insects? What honey bee research is under way? If you can't physically attend the UC Davis Department of Entomology's fall seminars, starting Wednesday noon, Oct.

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