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  Remember Cole Cramer and Connor Hsu, the two Southern California insect enthusiasts who met as pre-teens at the 2022 Bio Boot Camp at UC Davis? They became fast friends, joined professional entomological societies, and formed a youth entomology group, the Lorquin Society…

 Are you hanging out beneath the mistletoe? Or know someone who is? Maybe Mommy kissing Santa Claus?Scales and ants may be hanging out, too.The two insects maintain a classic mutualistic symbiosis in which ants "farm" scale insects for their sweet honeydew.  It's a beneficial arrangement: scales…

 The UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology today published its 2025 "News in Review," with a message from the administration--Joanna Chiu, professor and department chair, and Rachel Vannette, professor and vice chair--and featuring highlights of the year."We recognize our roots," the…

 The "Lost Science" column of the New York Times recently focused on Jenny Carlson Donnelly, a UC Davis doctoral alumna who lost her job earlier this year as a Malaria Outbreak Emergency Advisor for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) due to Trump administration cuts.USAID,…

 Can't think of a gift to buy for the beekeepers, food enthusiasts, naturalists, environmental educators, and honey and mead lovers in your life? It gets a little sticky, doesn't it? Sometimes really sticky.To the rescue...a couple of Santa's helpers...The California Master Beekeeper Program (CAMBP…

 Not everything is big in Texas.If you're used to seeing the huge Texas longhorns, with horns spanning eight feet in length from tip to tip, then this is quite the comparison.Entomologist Jeff Smith, the volunteer curator of the Lepidoptera collection at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, UC Davis, just…

 These designs showcasing the 15th annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day will "draw you in."The BioDiv Committee recently sponsored a design contest and selected the two winners. They are....drum roll...Haylie Wilcox, a first-year master's degree student in the lab of Professor Neal Williams, a…

 A sweet collaboration!The California Master Beekeeper Program (CAMBP), based at UC Davis, and The HIVE Tasting Room and Kitchen in Woodland, have joined forces--sweet forces--to present two courses at The Hive:  the first is The Science of Honey Tasting  from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., on…

 Who's speaking at the winter seminars hosted by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology?Marshall McMunn, coordinator of the seminars for the 2025-26 academic year, has announced the "spring list."All seminars will take place at 12:10 p.m. on Wednesdays  in 122 Briggs Hall. They also…

 What exciting research--fitting overwintering monarch butterflies with the newly developed ULTRALIGHT solar-powered radio tags to monitor their movements.Senior conservation biologist Emma Pelton of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation today announced in a news release that “Scientists are…

 Science matters. Science beckons. Science fulfills.The California All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (CalATBI) is organizing a 2026 Student Insect Collection BioBlitz, a statewide community science effort to document our state's biodiversity.Organizers related:The goal: "To document California’s insect…

 Some folks wear their heart on their sleeves.Others wear a dragonfly on their chest.Newly arrived in the Bohart Museum of Entomology gift shop are dragonfly T-shirts."The dragonflies came in!" announced Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator of the Bohart Museum. "They look great." …

 It's "Friday Fly Day" but we haven't seen a drone fly (Eristalis tenax) for at least a month.It's a member of the hover fly family, Syrphidae, but it manages to appear almost everywhere as...a... bee. A drone is a drone is a drone. A bee is a bee is a bee. (Thank you, Gertrude Stein, who penned "A…

 Bees, wasps, flies, oh, my!Many non-insect enthusiasts often misidentify insects. A honey bee become a fly, a wasp becomes a bee, and a fly becomes a wasp or bee.So organizers of the Bohart Museum of Entomology's recent open house on  "Bees and Their Mimics" helped set the record straight…

 Congrats to Rithica! It's so great to see young scientists excel!Rithika Senthilkumar, an undergraduate research scholar in the UC Davis Vector Genetics Laboratory (VGL), School of Veterinary Medicine, has been awarded a highly competitive 2025 Promega D.O.O.R.S. (Development of Our Research…

The Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) announced the launch of the Resilient Agriculture Finance and Insurance Research Collaborative, a research initiative to advance finance and insurance solutions…

The Unified Grant Management for Viticulture & Enology (UGMVE) is hosting requests for research proposals for FY 2026-2027 on behalf of five entities. Each agency has its own RFP that specifically explains their priorities and criteria:American Vineyard Foundation (AVF)California Grape Rootstock…

 Today (Tuesday) is Giving Day.Let's give to the honey bees. Or, rather, let's "give BACK" to the bees. Honey bees pollinate about one-third of our food supply, including fruits, vegetables and nuts. They also provide us with honey, beeswax and other products.To us, giving to the bees means giving…

 They are a special group of people--the people who receive the California State Beekeepers' Association's Eric Mussen Distinguished Service Award, launched in 2015.Eric Mussen (1944-2022), who served for 38 years as the UC Cooperative Extension apiculturist and member of the UC Davis Department of…