San Mateo

The Asian citrus psyllid, the most devastating threat to the worldwide citrus industry, may have met its match.

Few people have seen California's state insect in the wild, but now thousands will this week--on TV. The California dogface butterfly, Zerene eurydice, and its Auburn habitat will be featured on KVIE Public Television's "Rob on the Road" show at various times throughout the week.

It's all over the news...the Aedes aeypti, the daytime-biting mosquito that predominantly feeds on humans.

I recently adventured into science journalism with a piece describing our recent article in PNAS detailing changes in forest structure over the 20th century. I talk about the use of the old data, and what the implications are for these changes.

The next time you see a Monarch butterfly heading your way--or settled in at an overwintering site in coastal California or in central Mexico--check to see if it's tagged.

Female (top), male and female in copulation (middle) and a mature nymph (bottom) of Bagrada bug on a dime. (Photo by Surendra Dara) Bagrada bug (Bagrada hilaris) is an invasive pest that was first reported in California in 2008 in Los Angeles County.

Bagrada bug [Bagrada hilaris (Burmeister)] is an invasive hemipteran insect (Family: Pentatomidae) that was first reported in Los Angeles County, California in 2008. It has now spread to several counties in California and is moving northwards.

Light brown apple moth (LBAM), Epiphyas postvittana (Walker) was recently found in Santa Barbara County for the sixth time. LBAM is a quarantine pest on the United States mainland and can cause serious damage to various crops, nurseries, fruit trees, landscapes, and native plants.

A chimpanzee holds a monarch butterfly in a ceramic art work titled Darwin. Human hands cradle insects and assorted objects in a ceramic work titled Analyze This. Those are just two of the art works featured in a juried show under way at the Pence Gallery, 212 D St., Davis.

American humorist-entertainer Will Rogers said "I never met a man I didn't like." I wonder if he would have said the same thing about insects. Oh, sure, he probably liked--and appreciated--the butterflies, the honey bees and the ladybugs. But cockroaches? I bet not.