Bug Squad

A virtual seminar to be hosted by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology on Wednesday, Oct. 21 should draw widespread interest, especially with the discovery last month of Aedes aegypti in Yolo County.

Flies seem to be in the news a lot lately.

Mark your calendar. The Bohart Museum of Entomology at the University of California, Davis, is hosting a virtual open house dealing with alfalfa and rice.

Wanna piece of me? "Hey, Buckeye butterfly, you over there with chunks of a wing missing, yeah you, what happened?" "Well, it was like this. I was just fluttering around, looking for some good nectar, and a predator grabbed me. I don't know what it was. Maybe it was a praying mantis.

Note: We asked butterfly expert Arthur "Art" Shapiro, distinguished professor of evolution and ecology at the University of California, Davis, to comment on the effect of the California wildfires on butterflies and their habitat.