Bug Squad

Bees buzz. People "Tweet." Well, many people do. It's generous of the Hagen-Dazs brand to donate $1 per Tweet (up to $500 per day) from Nov. 5 through Nov. 11 to support honey bee research at the University of California, Davis.

Butterflies, honey bees and hover flies can't get enough of red buckwheat. Tight clusters of pink blossoms, coupled with gray-green foliage, grace red buckwheat (Eriogonum grande rubescens), a California native. It's good for the insects and good for the gardener. It's drought-tolerant.

Everything's coming up roses at the Bohart Museum of Entomology on the UC Davis campus. Roses? Make that rose-haired tarantulas. See, the Bohart not only houses some seven million insect specimens in its quarters in 1124 Academic Surge, but they have a few live ones, too.

Remember the ravenous light brown apple moth (LBAM) and all the controversy? The invasive agricultural pest, from Down Under, soars high on the agenda at the Northern California Entomology Societys meeting on Thursday, Nov. 5 in Concord. Also on the agenda: honey bee regulatory research.

The "honey bee reproductive ground plan" hypothesis that originated two decades ago at the University of California, Davis with bee geneticist Robert E Page Jr. (right) is drawing international attention.