Bug Squad

08/29/2026

For decades, we've watched oleander aphids infest our milkweed.

Like many folks, we grow milkweed for the monarchs, but aphids insist on having their share, too.

Guess who's coming to dinner? Aphids.

Guess who's NOT invited? Aphids.

Guess who's coming anyway? Aphids.

Fast forward to the newly published research in the lab of community ecologist Louie Yang, professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.

Those aphids infesting your milkweed plants offer a surprising benefit.

The newly published UC Davis research suggests that the honeydew produced by aphids on milkweed plants increases plant growth.

“We found that the addition of honeydew at accumulated levels reduced total inorganic soil nitrogen by 48.8 percent relative to controls,” Yang said. “Unexpectedly, milkweed seedlings were 90 percent taller and had 4.2 times greater dry biomass in honeydew-conditioned soil than in the control group.”

For decades, we've watched oleander aphids infest our milkweed.Like many folks, we grow milkweed for the monarchs, but aphids insist on having their share, too.

08/28/2026

"Love is like a butterfly
As soft and gentle as a sigh
The multicolored moods of love are like its satin wings
Love makes your heart feel strange inside
It flutters like soft wings in flight..."
--Dolly Parton, 'Love Is Like a Butterfly' album, 1974

The world mourns the loss of the legendary Dolly Parton, singer, songwriter, actress and philanthropist, who died Tuesday, Aug. 25 in Nashville, Tenn. at age 80.

She spoke our language, she sang our songs, she did her best to help the poor, the forgotten, the targeted and the downtrodden.

Dolly spent her life chasing butterflies, and referenced the insects in her music, clothing and in the logo of her beloved amusement park, Dollywood, Pigeon Forge, Tenn.

In a 2021 interview with W Magazine, she recalled a childhood of wandering in the woods of Tennessee's Great Smoky Mountains and chasing butterflies.

"They didn't sting. They didn't bite, and they were so beautiful," she related.

"I just loved them because they were colorful and gentle, and I just kind of related to them with my own personality. I don't want to hurt anybody. Didn't want to bite. Didn't want to sting, and I still don't. I just kind of claimed them as my little symbol."

Perhaps some of them were monarchs?

Dolly proved to be the iconic monarch, universally loved, cherished and idolized. "Love is like a butterfly, a rare and gentle thing."

Daily Bug Squad blog

https://ucanr.edu/blog/bug-squad/article/love-butterfly

08/27/2026

Buzzing with the Bohart...
The Bohart Museum of Entomology spreads the wonder and joy of insects through its many outreach programs.
Tabatha Yang, Bohart Museum education and outreach coordinator, and Bohart intern Jo Ridgeway recently tabled at the Vacaville Museum Guild's annual Children's Party.
The children's party, a popular tradition since 1984, is geared for children ages 3 to 9 and takes place in the museum courtyard.
Yang and Ridgeway answered questions about the "Oh, My" insect specimen displays.
Ridgeway, the education and outreach intern at the Bohart Museum and a UC Davis senior majoring in entomology, introduced the crowd of 350 to the live petting zoo. The insects obliged: Madagascar hissing cockroaches and stick insects, aka "walking sticks."
Yang helped the youngsters craft "buzz kazoos," made with sticks, straws and rubber bands
https://ucanr.edu/blog/bug-squad/article/buzzing-bohart

08/26/2026

UC Davis Distinguished Professor Bruce Hammock (1947-2026), an amazing scientist, loved the mountains.

And so it is quite appropriate for EicOsiss, the company he ounded to fulfill a lifelong commitment to finding safer and more effective ways to treat chronic pain, to host the inaugural three-day Bruce Hammock Symposium at Palisades Tahoe, to celebrate "the extraordinary visionary whose work bridged disciplines and transformed both fundamental discovery and translational medicine."

The theme of the Oct. 11-Oct. 13 symposium: "Where Curiosity Meets Legacy."
https://ucanr.edu/blog/bug-squad/article/where-curiosity-meets-legacy

08/25/2026

A tip of the bee veil to "Team B!"
And yes, they're all beekeepers and bee or pollinator garden enthusiasts!
"Team B," the UC Davis Bee Haven Team from the E. L. Niño lab, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology (ENT-NEM), won high recognition in the UC Davis Staff Assembly's 2026 Citation of Excellence program and will be honored at a ceremony on Wednesday, Oct. 21 at the residence of UC Davis Chancellor Gary May.
A total of 15 campuswide UC Davis employees--recipients of either team or individual awards--will be celebrated at the event.
"Team B" received second-place or the honorable mention award in the highly competitive team category. "Team B" includes Kian Nikzad and Wendy Mather, co-program managers of the UC Davis-based California Master Beekeeper Program; Joseph Tauzer, staff research associate and manager of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility; and staff research associate Matthew Hoepfinger. All work in the UC Davis Bee Haven, the department's half-acre public demonstration/pollinator garden. The Haven, installed in the fall of 2019, is located next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road.
Also an integral part of "Team B" but unable to be a recipient due to a new employee probationary time frame: Samantha "Sam" Murray, education and garden coordinator of The Bee Haven. Elina Niño, professor of Cooperative Extension, Apiculture, a member of the ENT-NEM faculty, and founder-director of the California Master Beekeeper Program, serves as the director of the UC Davis Bee Haven.

See more at
https://ucanr.edu/blog/bug-squad/article/team-b-gains-high-recognition

08/22/2026

If bees fascinate you--and they should--be sure to download a free PDF of "The Bee Genera of North and Central America (Hymenoptera: Apoidea): Second Edition."

That's also the where you can view it on the website for free.

The 313-page publication is the work of Bryan N. Danforth, Seán G. Brady, Karolyn Darrow, Silas Bossert, Eduardo A. B. Almeida, Jason Gibbs, John L. Neff, Terry Griswold, Laurence Packer, Ronald J. McGinley, and Charles D. Michener.

The Smithsonian Scholarly Press, Washington, DC, published this on Aug. 3, 2026.

"Bees," the authors wrote, "are ecologically and economically important as pollinators of both wild plants and managed crops. In North America--from Panama to Canada--there are more than 5,000 bee species currently placed in 173 genera. Studies focused on bee diversity, pollination, biogeography, ecology, and conservation are dependent on the ability of researchers to identify bee specimens to genus and, ultimately, to species. Identification tools, such as dichotomous keys, allow the scientific community to conduct meaningful field and laboratory research on wild bees."

See more on Bug Squad blog at

The cover of the publication,

08/21/2026

The visitor hesitated to enter.
"Warning: Security Cameras in Use," a sign read.
"Shall I pray or shall I prey?"
The visitor hung out by the front door, observant of people coming and going.
Then the visitor appeared to want to ring the doorbell.
"Door dash?"
The scene: the entrance to The Artisan, a cozy vintage, antique, arts-and-crafts and consignment store at 536 Main St. in downtown Vacaville.
The visitor: an European praying mantis, Mantis religiosa.
Owner Jeanne Whitehouse promptly named it "Arthur," nicknaming it "Art" for short.
Maybe she should have named it Arthuretta, Artura, Arthurette or Arthurina.
It's definitely not an "Arthur."
And then...

See more at https://ucanr.edu/blog/bug-squad/article/welcome-arthuretta

08/20/2026

Did you know that World Honey Bee Day is celebrated annually on the third Saturday in August? This year it fell on Aug. 15.
Roll the calendar back to Aug. 6 and voila! Members of a bee team at the University of California, Davis, were sharing their love of bees at the Vacaville Museum Guild's annual Children's Party.
The team interacted with children ages 3 and 9--youngsters eager to learn about bees and their role in the world.
The event, held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the museum courtyard, drew a crowd of more than 350.

Pictured are Kian Nikzad, co-program manager of the California Master Beekeeper Program (CAMBP), Abi Moreno, senior at UC Davis majoring in global diseases, and Samantha Murray, education and garden coordinator, UC Davis Bee Haven. Nikzad and Murray are members of the E. L. Niño Bee Lab at UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

See more at https://ucanr.edu/blog/bug-squad/article/bee-team-and-joy-bees

08/19/2026

The spider and the bee...

Or technically, an orb weaver and a honey bee.

"Orb" is an old English word meaning "circular." Thus, the word, in reference to an orb weaver, refers to the classic, round, wheel-shaped spiral webs that these spiders build.

The orb weaver is skilled in web design and development. Such intricate work it does! It quickly but meticulously weaves its orb, anticipating that a bee or other prey will be caught in its sticky web.
https://ucanr.edu/blog/bug-squad/article/spider-and-bee-0

08/18/2026

What's inside the Bohart Museum of Entomology at the University of California, Davis, and what will the scientists show and tell you?

Drum roll...The Bohart Museum has announced two fall open houses: the first on Sunday, Sept. 20 and the second on Saturday, Nov. 7.

Both are free and family friendly and will take place from 1 to 4 p.m. in the Bohart Museum, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane. Parking is also free on the weekends.

Tabatha Yang,