Bug Squad

Who doesn't pine for plants? And pollinators? The UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden is sponsoring its annual fall clearance plant sale from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 4 at its Arboretum Teaching Nursery headquarters on Garrod Drive, UC Davis campus.

Congratulations, UC Davis alumna Kelly Hamby! Hamby, an assistant professor and extension specialist in the Department of Entomology at the University of Maryland-College Park, will receive the Early Career Professional (ECP) Extension Award during the annual meeting of the Entomological Society of...

Entomologists don't always dress as predators or prey at their Halloween parties. Sure, they're known for donning butterfly, bee, and black widow spider costumes. But sometimes they opt to characterize a scarecrow, a rag doll, a police officer, a pirate, Bernie Sanders and a hot dog.

Have you ever hit a piata? Hit it and smashed it to smithereens? It was probably a Fiesta-ish piata--maybe a colorful unicorn, donkey, or pony, right? Bet it wasn't a fly. And bet it wasn't a fly from the genus Acrocera and family Acroceridae.

Migrating monarchs are fluttering daily into our yard in Vacaville, Calif., one by one, two by two, three by three, and four by four, for a little flight fuel. They're sipping nectar from the Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifolia, and tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica.