Bug Blog
Bee-ing Healthy
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...
This frame shows healthy bees. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Queen bee and her workers. A Varroa mite is on the head of a bee at right of this photo. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Close-up of a Varroa mite on a worker bee. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
This Is Definitely a Magnet for Bees and Flower Flies
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 Häagen-Dazs...
Honey bee foraging in bush germander. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Syrphid fly, aka flower fly or hover fly, visiting germander. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Zeroing in on Pests
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...
Newly elected president Robert Dowell (right) talks with UC Davis Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen and UC Davis mosquito researcher Debbie Dritz. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Landscape Conservation for Rare Insects
"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...
Nick Haddad (Photo by Melissa McGaw)
Saint Francis satyr (Neonympha mitchellii francisci). (Photo by Melissa McGaw)
Aspiring for Better Pollination
We can expect some exciting research to emerge from the U. S. Department of Agriculture's Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI). And UC Davis pollination ecologist Neal Williams, an assistant...
The blue orchard bee or BOB (Osmia) is being studied as an alternative pollinator. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Pollination ecologist Neal Williams working on an Osmia project last summer. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)