Bug Squad

The UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology's virtual seminars for the winter quarter are underway, beginning today (Jan.

The COVID-19 pandemic canceled the 2021 Beer-for-a-Butterfly Contest but sponsor Art Shapiro, UC Davis distinguished professor of evolution and ecology, found one for the record books. Shapiro spotted a cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae, at 1:55 p.m. on Saturday, Jan.

They're small, about 1 mm long or less, with characteristic fringed wings. They fly, but not well. But thrips do pack a powerful punch. A major pest of many agricultural crops, including lettuce, they damage plants by (1) sucking their juices and (2) transmitting viruses.

Robbin Thorp would have been proud of what happened on Thursday, Jan. 14. When the UC Davis emeritus professor of entomology, a global authority on bumble bees, died June 7, 2019 at age 85, scientists found a way to memorialize him and what he loved.

If you missed the recent UC Davis COVID-19 Symposium on saliva and sewage tests, plus vaccines, not to worry. It's online on YouTube at https://youtu.be/Paq0ka3NIP0 "We had a total of 1,234 registrants," reported UC Davis Distinguished Professor Walter Leal, the organizer and moderator.