Bug Squad

A reader asks: Does the UC Davis Bohart Museum of Entomology have a fact sheet on black widow spiders? Yes! It's among dozens of fact sheets (mostly insects but some arachnids and other non-insects) posted on the Bohart Museum website. All can be accessed and downloaded at no charge.

If you have roses blooming in your yard in the winter--or trying to bloom--check to see if there's a lady beetle, aka ladybug prowling around. Any aphids? A lady beetle can eat as many as 5000 aphids in its lifetime, so they're the good guys and gals in the garden.

(Note: UC Davis Distinguished Professor Walter Leal focuses his research on the biochemical and molecular basis of insect olfaction, or how insects perceive the world through the sense of smell. However, he is also heavily involved in public service.) It's not only good news, but great news.

Seen any bumble bees lately in Yolo or Solano counties? If so, and if you photograph the first one of the year, you might win the Bohart Museum of Entomology's contest.

Learning more about insects ought to be one of your New Year's resolutions. Here's a good place to start: read the UC Davis Bohart Museum of Entomology's Insect Information Sheets.