http://ucanr.edu/blogs/bugsquad/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed Happenings in the insect world en-us UC ANR http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/rss/ Thu, 23 May 2013 22:20:28 PST Thu, 23 May 2013 22:20:28 PST UC ANR What a match--honey bees and pomegranate blossoms. Watching the golden bees forage amid the brilliant red blossoms in the late afternoon is a delight to see, especially when the sun backlights them. The ancient fruit, native to Iran, is one of the world's first cultivated fruits. Thankfully, it is now "trendy" in California, with some 30,000 acres of pomegranates in production. We treasure its ruby-red kernels, tart flavor, and high antioxidant content. Since ancient times, the fruit has...
]]> Thu, 23 May 2013 22:20:27 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10459&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Keatley Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10459 A spider web is one of nature's most marvelous wonders. It's art, it's architecture, and it's engineering. The silk is as beautiful as it is deceiving. It's 10 times stronger than Kevlar; as sticky as cotton candy covered with honey; and as flexible as a classical ballet dancer. It's also a restaurant of sorts when the sticky strands nab unsuspecting prey. Unlike humans sitting down at a restaurant to order a meal from the menu, a spider never knows what's on the menu until it "magically"...
]]> Wed, 22 May 2013 22:08:37 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10449&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Keatley Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10449 "Where do foraging bees go to die?" That question was asked this week of honey bee guru Eric Mussen of the UC Davis Department of Entomology, who serves as the statewide Extension apiculturist. "Do they return to the hive? Do they retire and live out their last days inside?" he was asked. We've all seen worker bees in the throes of death. After all, they live only four to six weeks in the busy season. But the queen bee, which can lay some 2000 eggs a day, quickly replaces them. "Since we do...
]]> Tue, 21 May 2013 21:38:45 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10440&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Keatley Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10440 I usually can't get within 25 yards of a dragonfly. Not so in our back yard. A flame skimmer or firecracker skimmer (Libellula saturata) has apparently decided that this is where he wants to be. Last Saturday, for nine hours, he perched on a six-foot-high bamboo stake, leaving only for a few seconds at a time to snag a flying insect before returning to eat his prey. The flame skimmer, about a 2.5-inch Odonata, looks prehistoric. In fact, according to a UC Berkeley website, "The oldest...
]]> Mon, 20 May 2013 22:34:52 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10429&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Keatley Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10429 The lady beetle, aka ladybug, was at the wrong place at the wrong time. We don't know how she managed to get tangled in the cellar spider's web or why the cellar spider opted to have her for dinner instead waiting for a tasty honey bee, a nutritious leafcutter bee or a plump bumble bee. Nevertheless, we came upon this predator-prey attack in our backyard. It was too late to save the ladybug. Ordinarily, the ladybug's bright red coloration serves as a "warning" to predators. Plus, ladybugs...
]]> Fri, 17 May 2013 21:36:28 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10419&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Keatley Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10419 Consider the lady beetle, aka ladybug. It's not a bug, but a beetle. It belong to the family Coccinellidae, and scientists have described about 5000 species worldwide, and about 450 in North America. Some quick facts... Ladybugs are not always red with black spots. The colors can be red, yellow, orange, gray, black, brown and pink. And, not all ladybugs have spots. Some have stripes and some have neither spots nor stripes. Coccinellid are omnivores, dining on soft-bodied insects such as...
]]> Thu, 16 May 2013 23:08:20 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10411&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Keatley Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10411 "For many years, beekeepers and environmentally interested individuals have expressed the opinion that the use of neonicotinoid insecticides ("neonics") have interfered with the ability of honey bees and native bees to conduct their life activities properly," begins Extension apicuturist Eric Mussen of the UC Davis Department of Entomology in his latest edition of his newsletter, from the UC Apiaries. "Since laboratory studies have detailed the disruptive effect on those insects, it was...
]]> Wed, 15 May 2013 19:20:25 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10405&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Keatley Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10405 Don't ever call the European wool carder bee (Anthidium manicatum) a slow poke. It's not "as fast as a speeding bullet" (Superman), but close. The males, quite territorial, chase away other pollinators, including honey bees, sweat bees and butterflies. The European wool carder bee gets it name from the fact that females collect or "card" leaf fuzz for their nests. Today we watched the bees sip nectar from our catmint blossoms and mate. If you've never seen them in California, that's...
]]> Tue, 14 May 2013 22:25:59 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10389&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Keatley Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10389 (Editor's Note: This luncheon has been postponed until October 2013. Details forthcoming) The buzz around the UC Davis campus is a June luncheon. Not just any luncheon, but "A Luncheon in the Garden." The UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center, directed by Amina Harris, is gearing up for the event, to be held Saturday, June 2 from noon to 3 p.m. in the UC Davis Good Life Garden, by the Robert Mondavi Center for Institute for Wine and Food Science. Its purpose is to introduce and support the...
]]> Mon, 13 May 2013 21:42:57 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10379&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Keatley Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10379 It was definitely a hot spot. Honey bees foraging last week on a pomegranate tree on Hopkins Road, west of the UC Davis main campus, competed for food on hundreds of blossoms. We counted five honey bees on one blossom alone in what amounted to a pushing/shoving match. Most of the bees probably came from the nearby apiary at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road, off Hopkins Road. The pomegranate is an ancient fruit and the honey bee is an ancient insect....
]]> Fri, 10 May 2013 22:08:48 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10372&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Keatley Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10372 Saturday, May 11 is "Moth-ers Day" at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, University of California, Davis. Moth-ers Day? Yes, moths have mothers, too! The open house, free and open to the public, will take place at the Bohart Museum, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. The focus is on moths, and moths of all sizes, shapes, colors and patterns will be displayed, said Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator. Most moths are...
]]> Thu, 09 May 2013 21:40:51 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10353&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Keatley Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10353 If you think that every insect on a flower is a honey bee, you should see what the UC Davis Department of Entomology is showcasing at the Dixon May Fair, May 9-12. You'll not only see honey bees in a bee observation hive, but specimens of bumble bees, cuckoo bees, carpenter bees, long-horned bees, squash bees, plasterer bees, mining bees, leafcutter bees, wool carder bees and sweat bees. The exhibit is in the Southard Floriculture Building on the May Fair grounds, located at 655 S. First...
]]> Wed, 08 May 2013 22:25:20 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10344&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Keatley Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10344 A day in the life of a single worker bee... A honey bee tumbles off the flowering catmint (Nepeta) and struggles to right herself. Her wings tattered, her body battered, she does not buzz away. Perhaps she is approaching the end of her six-week lifespan--three weeks working inside the hive and three weeks working outside the hive. Bee scientists say that worker bees literally work themselves to death. As a forager, she likely made about 40 trips a day gathering nectar and pollen. Forty...
]]> Tue, 07 May 2013 22:25:49 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10337&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Keatley Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10337 It's not "Rise and Shine!" any more. It's "Sparkle and Shine." "Sparkle and Shine," a yellow rose related to the Julia Child Rose, drew quite a bit of attention at the UC Davis event, "Roses: the "Eyeconic Weekend," sponsored May 4-5 by the California Center for Urban Horticulture (CCUH) at Foundation Plant Services, 455 Hopkins Road, west of the central campus. Participants loved it--and so did the honey bees. The bees--probably from the nearby Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research...
]]> Mon, 06 May 2013 23:18:00 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10331&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Keatley Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10331 We all take short cuts--short cuts around the campus, to the beach, to a favorite restaurant... Honey bees take short cuts, too. We've often watched assorted bumble bees and carpenter bees drill a hole in a long-tubed flower to rob the nectar. And we've watched honey bees benefitting from this behavior. Today we observed a carpenter bee, Xylocopa tabaniformis orpifex, engaging in nectar robbing in salvia at the UC Davis Arboretum. Nectar robbing occurs when a bee or other animal...
]]> Fri, 03 May 2013 21:58:44 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10321&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Keatley Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10321 The 40 mile-per-hour howling wind didn't seem to bother the syrphid fly, aka hover fly and flower fly. It clung to a blossom on the tower of jewels, Echium wildpretii, and proceeded to nectar. Its wings sparkled in the morning sun. This is a pollinator and one that's often mistaken for a honey bee. A honey bee it isn't. It's a fly. If you want to read more about them, be sure to check out entomologist Robert Bugg's UC ANR publication, Flower Flies (Syrphidae) and Other Biological...
]]> Thu, 02 May 2013 21:30:08 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10315&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Keatley Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10315 I beg your pardonI never promised you a rose gardenAlong with the sunshineThere's gotta be a little rain sometime... So began Joe South in his hit song, "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden," popularized by country singer Lynn Anderson in 1970. That was Joe South's rose garden. What UC Davis has is an eight-acre field of roses, and you're invited to celebrate "Roses: the "Eyeconic Weekend" on Saturday and Sunday, May 4-5. It's a free event, with free training/informational sessions. The best...
]]> Wed, 01 May 2013 21:55:34 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10305&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Keatley Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10305 Thursday, May 2 is a good day to learn about butterflies. That's when butterfly expert Art Shapiro, professor of evolution and ecology at UC Davis, will be speak at the Northern California Entomology Society meeting, to be held at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road, UC Davis. The meeting will begin at 9:15 a.m. with registration for club members and guests, and conclude at approximately 2:30 p.m. The group, which meets three times a year, is comprised of...
]]> Tue, 30 Apr 2013 21:02:22 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10292&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Keatley Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10292 It doesn't usually make the 6 o'clock news--or even the 10 o'clock news--but it's trouble. Trouble, indeed. The brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha hales), a native of Asia, was first discovered in the United States in Allentown, Penn., in 2000. Since then, it's been making a big stink. Literally. It's a major agricultural threat that feeds on vegetables and fruit, says UC Davis associate entomologist/chemical entomologist Jeffrey Aldrich. USDA has estimated $21 billion worth of crops...
]]> Mon, 29 Apr 2013 19:43:04 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10277&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Keatley Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10277 When there's so much pain, grief and sorrow in the world, it's time to shut off the TV, log off the computer, exit the house, and photograph honey bees. Watching honey bees foraging in the tower of jewels, Echium wildpretii, is therapy enough. They are sisters, sisters with a job to do, and so little time to do it. Buzzing from one blossom to another, gathering nectar and pollen, they are a symphony of color, grace and sound, unlike the cacophony that savagely screams from the 10 o'clock news....
]]> Fri, 26 Apr 2013 21:46:28 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10264&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Keatley Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10264