Bug Squad

If you were thinking of trying to net a cabbage white butterfly to win Art Shapiro's "Beer-for-a-Butterfly Contest"--a butterfly for a pitcher of beer, or its equivalent--you're too late. The contest is over. No winner this year.

At first glance, they're often mistaken for bees, but bees they are not. They're flies. You've probably seen them hovering over flowers, which is why syprhids are commonly called "hover flies" or "flower flies." Enter Andrew Young.

If you can picture a huge water bear (tardigrade) sculpture gracing the entrance to the Bohart Museum of Entomology on Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus, the scientists need your help to make it happen.

News flash: Monarch sighting in Sacramento! Butterfly guru Art Shapiro, UC Davis distinguished professor of evolution and ecology, spotted a monarch in Sacramento on Wednesday, Jan. 29--way, way, way early to see monarchs in this area. But it wasn't in his transect.

UC Davis medical entomologist-geneticist Geoffrey Attardo's tiny research subjects in Tupper Hall are receiving widespread attention on a very large scale. In less than 48 hours, nearly 500,000 people have seen thembut not in his restricted-access lab.