Bug Squad

Unlike the Saints, the ants won't "go marching in"; they'll be "marching on." The "Ants Go Marching On will set the theme for the Bohart Museum of Entomology's open house from 1 to 4 p.m., Sunday, March 13 at 1124 Academic Surge, California Drive, UC Davis campus.

Growing almonds isn't all it's cracked up to be. It's expensive. The next time you're enjoying a ice cream bar coated with almonds or a salad with toasted almonds, think not only about the honey bees, but the growers.

At first I thought it was a yellow-faced bumble bee. Sort of like applying the adage, "When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." That's because most of the bumble bees I see are the yellow-faced bumble bees (Bombus vosnesenskii).

Move over, Justin Bieber. Butterfly guru Art Shapiro, professor of evolution and ecology at the University of California, Davis, says he's now a "cover boy," too. Shapiro is featured in the current edition of Sacramento News & Review.

Just call it the ABC of ants. (A) Ants, (B) Bonnie Blaimer and (C) Crematogaster. Add a double "M" and you have a myrmecologist studying ants in Madagascar.