Bug Squad

It's time to revisit the "Thirteen Bugs of Christmas!" Back in 2010, Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen (now emeritus) and yours truly of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology) decided that "The 12 Days of Christmas" ought to be replaced with insects.

Sorry, contrary to popular opinion and Western lore, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is NOT a reindeer. He's a mantis. A masked mantis. And Santa Claus does not DRIVE a sleigh. The jolly ol' gent RIDES a mantis. A masked mantis.

"Spiders are everywhere," Professor Jason Bond told the crowd at his April 2019 town-hall presentation at the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house on arachnids.

More than 120 million people who read the Japanese language will soon be able to read a newly published book on biodemography by James R. Carey of UC Davis and Deborah A. Roach of the University of Virginia.

Yes, monarch butterflies qualify for the Endangered Species list. But no, we can't protect them because we don't have the money. That's the gist of what the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) said today.