Bug Squad

Remember when San Francisco 49'ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk credited his spectacular 51-yard catch in the 2024 NFC championship game with the Detroit Lions to a ladybug (note that entomologists correctly call it a "lady beetle") landing on his shoe before the game?

What's a picnic without bugs? Well, it wouldn't be a picnic at all! The UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology (ENT) is planning scores of displays and activities at Briggs Hall for the 110th annual campuswide UC Davis Picnic Day, to take place Saturday, April 20.

Like to participate in an evening City Nature Challenge Bioblitz on the UC Davis campus and search for insects? And document other fauna and flora, as well?

A monarch butterfly caterpillar goes through five stages or instars before it J's and becomes a jade-green chrysalis. Scientists estimate that only 10 percent of the eggs and 'cats survive to adulthood. They don't "survive" at all in California classrooms.

"A lot of students take a gap year between their undergrad and grad program," says honey bee scientist Zac Lamas, a National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) postdoctoral fellow with the U. S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Services (USDA-ARS). "I took a gap decade.