Bug Squad

Have you ever participated in a scavenger hunt? You know, as part of a team hunting for specified objects? Were any of the objects ever "insects?" Like a lady beetle (aka ladybug), butterfly or bee? No?

Luck be a lady! Little kids love selecting lady beetles, aka ladybugs, at the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management (UC IPM) booth at Briggs Hall during the annual campuswide UC Davis Picnic Day. The excitement, the capture, the I-get-to-take-these-home-and-put-them-in-my-garden look.

Do you like to blend science with art, or is there a budding young artist in your family? Then you may want to create Maggot Art, a hands-on activity offered by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology during the 109th annual UC Davis Picnic Day celebration on Saturday, April 15.

If you're interested in the honey bee health decline--and you should be--then you'll want to listen to what research associate Christopher Mayack of the USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS), Davis, says about "Chemical Biomarkers and the Physiological Underpinnings of Honey Bee Health Decline"...

Have you heard about the newly described kite spider species in Madagascar that is drawing worldwide attention for its lekking behavior?