Bug Squad

If spring has sprung--and it has--it's also time to spring forward the next batch of noonhour seminars at the UC Davis Department of Entomology. The spring lectures are held every Wednesday, March 31 through May 26, from 12:10 to 1 p.m., in 122 Briggs Hall, Kleiber Drive.

"I'm a ladybug. Please, take me home. I want to live in your garden. I like to eat aphids. Aphids are tiny green insects that are harmful to plants." "Just like the Grange, I'm a friend to the farmer and you.

The news is not good. The honey bee crisis is worsening. Back in November of 2006, commercial beekeeper David Hackenberg of Pennsylvania sounded the alarm. Fifty 50 percent of his bees had collapsed in Florida.

When the annual California Agriculture Day took place yesterday on the state capitol grounds, thousands of visitors buzzed the booths learning more about the food they eat and the agriculturists that provide it. But that wasn't the only buzz.

To a beekeeper, it's a four-letter word. Mite. Specifically, the varroa mite, also known as Varroa destructor. It's a small (think flea-sized) crab-shaped parasite that feeds on bees, either in the brood (immature bees) or on adult bees.