If you're looking for a holiday gift for family and friends--or maybe yourself--think bees and blooms. Specifically, California bees and blooms. Even more specifically, undomesticated bees (that is, not honey bees).
Got milkweed? Then you probably have milkweed bugs. All summer and into fall, we spotted the familiar reddish, black and white bugs scurrying around on our showy milkweed, Asclepias speciosa, and tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica. Showy bugs on showy milkweed.
How can we help honey bees through research? That's the topic that Francis Ratnieks, professor of apiculture, University of Sussex, United Kingdom, will cover when he presents a seminar on Wednesday, Dec. 7 at the University of California, Davis.
So you're in a quandary. You have no idea what to get the nature lovers/insect enthusiasts on your holiday gift-giving list. It's buggin' ya. No worries. The UC Davis Entomology Graduate Students' Association (EGSA) to the rescue.
Jazz is music to his ears, but so are the bees. He's been beekeeping and playing the clarinet for 69 years. Meet Norman Gary of Citrus Heights, UC Davis emeritus professor of entomology who retired in 1994 after a 32-year academic career.
