Bug Squad

 Ever found a tick on yourself, a friend or Fido?Yes? As the weather warms up, ticks are becoming more and more active. Ticks can do more than just "tick you off."Kim Douglass, a public health biologist with the Vector-Borne Disease Section, California Department of Public Health (CDPH),…

 All hail the aphid eaters!Lady beetles, aka ladybugs, emerge in spring from winter hibernation, and do so with voracious appetites. Is your rose bush drawing aphids? Bring on the beetles.  The lady beetle eats some 50 aphids a day--what some may call "a 50-course meal." In it lifetime, it can…

 Future arachnologists? Maybe! Artists? Definitely!Children and adults alike created "new species" of spiders when they worked with modeling clay at the Bohart Museum of Entomology's recent open house, themed "Eight-Leg Encounters." All arachnids, including scorpions,  spiders, and ticks, have…

 It was definitely an "Arachnid Kind of Day" when the Bohart Museum of Entomology at the University of California, Davis, hosted an open house themed "Eight-Legged Encounters."The event, free and family friendly, drew some 300 visitors during the three-hour time frame.Doctoral candidate Emma "Em" Jochim…

 St. Patrick's Day is a good time to celebrate the Wearing of the Green in the insect world.The metallic green sweat bee,  Agapostemon texanus, also known as "the ultra green sweat bee," fits the bill. The green bill.The female is metallic green from head to thorax to abdomen. The male, however, is…