Bug Squad

If you poked around all the bug exhibits during the campuswide UC Davis Picnic Day on Saturday, April 16, you probably came away thinking: Bugs rule. In sheer numbers, diversity and special honors.

Nature isn't perfect, but neither are we! Today we watched a Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) laying eggs on her host plant, the passionflower vine (Passiflora) and another Gulf Fritillary nectaring on the nearby Jupiter's Beard (Centranthus ruber). Ms.

Former Smithsonian entomologist Harrison G. Dyar, noted for his research on moths and butterflies, was not your typical entomologist. He feuded with fellow entomologists, was a bigamist (married to two wives at the same time) and caused an uproar when a tunnel he dug in a Washington, D.C.

The (Zika) virus is here, and so is the mosquito. The question is whether there will be enough of both to set off an epidemic. That's what UC San Francisco medical student Joshua Lang wrote in his piece, With Summer Coming, Can the Zika Virus Be Contained?, published April 14 in The New Yorker.

Countdown 'til UC Davis Picnic Day... UC Davis will welcome thousands of visitors Saturday, April 16 to its 102nd annual Picnic Day, themed "Cultivating Our Authenticity." You can access the schedule of events here. It promises to be educational, informative and entertaining.