- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
And that it is. It's designed to alert people to a problem that needs fixing.
And that's good news for the monarch butterflies.
California Gov. Jerry Brown has just signed Assembly Bill 559, which gives authority to the Department of Fish and Wildlife to take actions to conserve monarch butterflies and their habit in California.
“In recent years California has seen a drastic decrease in the Monarch Butterfly population partly due to climate change," said Assemblywoman Patty López (D-San Fernando), author of the bill.
"Conserving this butterfly will have positive impacts on the environment and overall economy for tourism to continue to flourish in cities that the butterfly migrates to,” she said in a news release. "For decades these majestic creatures have called our state home and are an inspiring symbol to many of our communities because of its yearly migration.”
López noted--and correctly so--that monarch butterflies "have been on the verge of being endangered" in their natural habitat (the caterpillars feed only on milkweed) and that their food source has "slowly diminished in the state due to climate change and the use of herbicide among other factors."
The federal government, she said, "committed to conserve the butterfly by expanding public-private partnerships with state and local governments."
The bill is a big step toward California's commitment.
The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, headquartered in Portland, Ore., helped develop the bill. "The significant thing about this bill is that it clarifies that the California state agency charged with wildlife conservation should, in fact, be working on the conservation of monarch butterflies," said Xerces communication director Matthew Shepherd. "This may not seem a big step, but until now, because of the way that the California state endangered species act was written with respect to invertebrates, it has been unclear whether or not California Department of Fish and Wildlife actually had the authority to work on monarchs. Now they, which allows the department to invest resources and staff time on monarch conservation."
Indeed, saving the monarchs begins with you and me. Get free milkweed seeds (Google "free milkweed seeds" or plant milkweeds obtained from local nurseries.
And why not forgo or cut back on Halloween candy and instead hand out milkweed seeds to the trick or treaters?
Now that's a real treat for monarchs!
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Professor Walter Leal of the University of California, Davis, is co-chairing the 2016 International Congress of Entomology (ICE) conference, themed "Entomology Without Borders," to be held Sept. 25-30 in Orlando, Fla. Some 7000 entomologists from all over the world are expected to attend.
But he himself could be considered an "entomologist without borders."
Leal has achieved international, national and state recognition and stature for his work in insect communication and his leadership achievements.
Leal, a professor in the UC Davis Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, and former professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology. was just named an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Entomology at a conference held in Dublin, Ireland. He was recognized for his lifetime contributions to entomological science at the global level. He earlier was named a fellow of the society.
And, on Oct. 13, Leal will be inducted as a fellow of the California Academy of Sciences, "a governing group of more than 400 distinguished scientists who have made notable contributions to one or more of the natural sciences." Leal joins Lynne A. Isbell, a UC Davis professor in the Department of Anthropology, as the two UC Davis inductees this year.
Leal, born in Brazil and educated in Brazil and Japan, joined the UC Davis faculty in 2000. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Entomological Society of America and is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences.
A chemical ecologist, Leal is a past president of the International Society of Chemical Ecology and received the silver, medal, the society's highest honor, in 2012. He was the first non-Japanese scientist to earn tenure in the Japan Ministry of Agriculture.
Leal investigates the molecular basis of olfaction in insects and insect chemical communication. (See the Leal lab's work on DEET in Entomology Today.) He researches environmentally friendly alternatives to control insects of medical importance, and also targets agricultural pests. (See research projects.)
Leal is truly an entomologist without borders. In addition to his many global accomplishments and achievements, he is a citizen of the world, speaking his native Portuguese, as well as Japanese, and English.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Last Dec. 27 at the Natural Bridges State Park, we saw dozens of monarchs about 80 feet up in the eucalyptus trees. When the sun broke through the trees, assorted birds targeted them, scattering them like mosaic paper kites, much to the awe and aahs of the crowd below.
"Monarch butterflies are among the largest members of the family Nymphalidae in North America. Their caterpillars store toxic chemicals called cardiac glycosides in their bodies from the milkweed they eat. Cardiac glycosides make vertebrates like us quite sick, so don't eat a monarch butterfly or caterpillar if you can help it. The chemicals remain in the adult butterfly bodies as well but tend to be concentrated more in the wings than in the body. Interestingly, cardiac glycosides seem to have very little effect on insect predators and parasites."
"The annual North American migration begins as early as August. Populations west of the Rockies migrate to the Pacific Coast with overwintering roosts along the central California coast. One of the best known of these is in Pacific Grove, California. Populations east of the Rockies migrate to central Mexico. Adult monarchs typically only live a couple of months, although they can live up to 5 or 6 months so the individuals that emerge in early summer do not migrate. Each generation takes between 5 and 6 weeks from egg to adult. The last generation of the summer goes into migratory mode. They stop reproducing and fly in a linear fashion to one of the overwintering sites. These individuals generally do not begin reproducing until the following spring in February or March when they leave these sites and move north from the Mexican site or north and east from the Pacific Coast."
Welcome back, monarchs! You're now fueling up for mass migration.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
And appropriately, butterflies adorned his tie.
Smith, who curates the 400,000 butterfly and moth collection at the Bohart Museum, was nominated by Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum and professor of entomology at UC Davis.
Smith sat on stage with the other 2015 recipients: Jacqueline Beckley, Chuck Nichols and Tony Smith, alumni awards; Chris van Kessel, faculty; David Ginsburg, staff, and John Meyer, friend.
But since this is a Bug Squad blog, we'll focus on the "bugman." (Yes, "bugman" is in his email account.)
Smith has “brought us international acclaim and saved us $160,000 through donations of specimens and materials, identification skills and his professional woodworking skills," Kimsey wrote in her nomination. "This does not include the thousands of hours he has donated in outreach programs that draw attention to the museum, the college and the university.”
Kimsey praised Smith for completely reorganizing the butterfly and moth collection. “It's no small feat to rearrange this many specimens, housed in roughly one thousand drawers,” she said. “Many thousands of the specimens needed to be identified, and the taxonomy required extensive updating and reorganization.”
Lauding Smith's “phenomenal knowledge of urban insect and spiders,” Kimsey said: “We often go to him with questions we get from the public and from colleagues. He volunteers for our weekend open houses as often as he can, as well as the UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day in February and UC Davis Picnic Day in April. Few volunteers, faculty, students or staff work as well with the public as Jeff does. He has a wonderfully engaging way of talking to children and adults, and he knows just how to inspire and educate every age group. It's awesome to watch.”
Indeed, it is no easy feat to pin a butterfly or moth. Just ask research entomologist Tom Zavorink, a Bohart Museum associate.
"Personally, I am astounded by the thousands upon thousands of butterflies and moths that Jeff has prepared for display or scientific study," Zavorink said. "This is no small task because butterfly and moth specimens are usually brought from the field in envelopes or boxes with their wings folded over their backs or around their bodies, and preparing them for display or scientific study involves relaxing them in a humid chamber so their wings and legs can be manipulated, carefully spreading open the wings, positioning them on a flat surface, and securing them in that position until the specimen dries again. This is an onerous task that many entomologists, myself included, shun because we don't have the time, manual dexterity, or patience it takes to prepare quality specimens."
Smith puts it this way: “Entomology is my passion and the Bohart Museum is my cause.”
The Bohart Museum houses a global collection of nearly eight million specimens. It is also the home of the seventh largest insect collection in North America, and the California Insect Survey, a storehouse of the insect biodiversity. Noted entomologist Richard M. Bohart (1913-2007) founded the museum.
The Bohart Museum's regular hours are from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. The museum is closed to the public on Fridays and on major holidays. Admission is free. Open houses, focusing on specific themes, are held on weekends throughout the academic year. See open house schedule.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Will all the pollinators please stand up!
Or do a fly-by like the Blue Angels or a crawl-by like babies competing in a diaper derby.
Bees--there are more than 4000 of them in North America--are the main pollinators, but don't overlook butterflies, beetles, birds, bats and moths.
And flies.
Flies?
Yes, flies.
Here's proof positive that flies can pollinate. If you look closely at this little bee fly on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia), you'll see that it has just grabbed some pollen. It's a member of the genus, Villa, and family, Bombyliidae, according to fly expert Martin Hauser of the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
Many folks mistake flies for bees. Look through any stock photo catalog or macro insect images on Flickr or a Facebook page and you'll often see hover flies, bee flies and other flies identified as bees.
Three of the easiest ways to differentiate a fly from a bee:
- A fly has one set of wings. A bee has two sets.
- A fly has short, stubby antennae. A honey bee doesn't.
- A fly has no corbicula or pollen basket. A honey bee (worker bee) does.
Welcome to the Pollination Nation!
For more information on bee flies, see BugGuide.net. For syrphids, aka flower flies or hover flies, read the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management's information on managing pests or read entomologist Robert Bugg's free downloadable PDF on the UC ANR website, Flower Flies (Syrphidae) and Other Biological Control Agents for Aphids (Publication No. 8285).
