Bug Squad

Your mama tells you that you're a bee, but when you look around you, you don't look like any of the bees you encounter in the meadow. Not the honey bee, not the carpenter bee, not the bumble bee, not the cuckoo bee and not any of the other assorted bees minding their own bees-ness in the meadow.

This Christmas season isn't the same without University of California Cooperative Extension apiculturist emeritis Eric Mussen, who died June 3 of liver cancer at his home in Davis. Mussen (1944-2022) was an institution. He was a global authority of honey bees. He was family to everyone.

If you haven't signed up for the Seed Pile Project, it's not too late.

"Wasps are terrible. They come jam-packed full of pain and anger, and they love to sting us out of the blue while we're minding our own business. They eat our food at picnics and frighten our children. They even build nests in our gardens and homes, just to complicate our already-stressful lives.

Move over, monarchs butterflies. The cold-adapted Parnassian butterflies don't get nearly as much attention as the iconic monarchs that migrate to overwintering spots, but a UC Davis entomology student's research may help change all that.