He cared for the honey bees, the beekeepers cared about him, and the California State Beekeepers' Association (CSBA) won't forget him.

CSBA paid tribute to the late Extension apiculturist emeritus Eric Carnes Mussen (1944-2022) at a memorial luncheon during its 2022 convention, held in Reno, and also awarded its seventh annual Eric Mussen Distinguished Service Award, launched when he retired in 2014. 

"The Eric Mussen Memorial Luncheon was a wonderful celebration of someone that was so key to the beekeeping industry," said CSBA associate director Brooke Palmer. "I was never fortunate enough to meet Eric, but witnessing how much love and appreciation there was for him at that lunch, anyone would be able to understand the impact he made on the people in this industry. We were so glad to be able to honor Eric and will continue to honor him with our Eric Mussen Distinguished Service Award that is given out every year at convention."

An estimated 150 attended the luncheon, which Extension apiculturist Elina Lastro Niño and emcee Gene Brandi of Los Banos helped coordinate with Palmer. An image of Mussen centerpieced each table. Brandi, who served with Mussen for 37 of his 39 years on the CSBA Board of Directors, shared his presentation that he delivered on the Life and Legacy of Eric Mussen, held Aug. 28 in the Putah Creek Lodge. (See YouTube). Brandi, current chair of the Foundation for the Preservation of Honey Bees, Inc., is a past president of American Beekeeping Federation and former chair of the California Apiary Board and National Honey Board.

John Miller of Miller Honey Farms, addressed the crowd, offering memories of Eric and his expertise, and read a note from Mussen's widow, Helen. The family, including Helen and sons Chris and Tim, participated via Zoom.

Mussen, 78, died June 3 at his Davis home of newly diagnosed liver cancer. Born May 12, 1944 in Schenectady, N.Y., Eric received his bachelor's degree in entomology from the University of Massachusetts and then obtained his master's degree and doctorate in entomology from the University of Minnesota in 1969 and 1975, respectively.

Mussen joined the UC Davis entomology department in 1976. Although he retired in 2014, he continued his many activities until a few weeks prior to his death. For nearly four decades, he drew praise as “the honey bee guru,” “the pulse of the bee industry" and as "the go-to person" when consumers, scientists, researchers, students, and the news media sought answers about honey bees. Colleagues described him as the “premier authority on bees and pollination in California, and one of the top beekeeping authorities nationwide,” “a treasure to the beekeeping industry," and "a walking encyclopedia when it comes to honey bees.” 

"Thank you for coming together to honor Eric with this memorial luncheon at Convention 2022," Helen wrote in her address read by Miller.  She related that she met Eric in 1966 at the University of Massachusetts. Initially, he wanted to become an insect ecologist, but "decided to learn about bees instead. It was a great choice for Eric who soon got over his dislike of being stung and learned about bee diseases and Minnesota beekeeping."

"Moving to California in 1976 for his first job in the beekeeping world was again a major adjustment," Helen recalled.  "He listened and learned and cared, so soon he was taken into the 'fold' to educate each other. It was a perfect match for Eric as he wanted to help the bees and the beekeepers any way he could. He was a natural teacher and scientist and he found his niche with so many diverse folks eager to learn and work together with him to solve the many bee problems."

"Over the nearly 40 years of working together his CSBA clients became his friends and like family," Helen noted. "We all will miss him in so many ways but I hope you will keep the stories alive and remember and talk about him for many years to come. Thank you for all you've done to be a friend and care for Eric while also caring for the bees together. "

In tribute to his work, CSBA launched its annual Eric Mussen Distinguished Service Award when he retired in 2014.

The recipients to date:

2015: Gordon Wardell, Ph.D
2016: Ila Hohmann
2017: Patti Johnson
2018: Troy Bunch
2019: Bob Brandi 
2021: Jackie Park-Burris
2022: Ann Quinn

In a June 2022 tribute to Mussen,  Jackie Park-Burris of Jackie Park-Burris Queens, Inc., Palo Cedro, a leader in the queen bee breeding and beekeeping industries, said she met Eric more than 40 years ago “and from day one he was mentoring me. He was the bee guy for the entire country!  Eric was the bee industry's connection to the scientific world. Eric understood both camps and he connected them. Eric had incredible integrity that I have never seen matched. Because of that integrity, beekeepers felt confident in sharing their problems with him, knowing their secrets were safe. Eric always voiced the opinion he felt was right, even if it wasn't the most popular.”

“Eric told me that he looked at the bee industry as his family,” said Park-Burris, a past president of CSBA, the first woman president of the California Bee Breeders Association, and the first woman chair of the California State Apiary Board. “When my son attended UC Davis, he and Helen made sure Ryan knew he could contact them if he needed anything. Eric even came to a function on campus that my son was in charge of to show support. Eric supported the California State Beekeepers Association and the California Bee Breeders wholeheartedly! He did an incredible job as our Extension guy from UC Davis. We loved him. What a sad loss for us all.”

After receiving the 2021 Eric Mussen Distinguished Service Award, Park-Burris said that "Eric sent me an email, congratulating me and told me he could not think of a more qualified person to receive it. It bought a tear to my eye back then, now I will treasure that email even more.”  A photo of an early-career Mussen appears on her website.

Palmer said nominations for the Eric Mussen Distinguished Service Award "may be presented to any person who has given time and professional talent to help further the goals of the beekeeping industry and the CSBA. This person need not be a CSBA member. We take award nominations all year and if anyone has an award nomination they can send it to me at brooke@agamsi.com)."

What an incredible art show that two UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology faculty recently hosted in the Labudio (lab+studio) of the UC Davis Environmental Horticulture Building, 200 Arboretum Drive.

This was the Entomology 001 art show, titled "Insects in the Anthropocene,"  hosted by assistant professor Emily Meineke and UC Davis distinguished professor Diane Ullman.

Among those attending: Helene Dillard, dean of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CA&ES).

Meineke explained the gist of it: "The students were each assigned an insect species in decline or moving about the planet and becoming invasive in new habitats. The insects students were assigned are among those most impacted by humans, and students were given an opportunity to re-envision how people might interact more gently and intentionally with insects, our small, yet consequential co-inhabitants."

"We are so proud of how the students interacted with this topic," Meineke said. "They were charged with researching their insects and turning that research into designs that could be screen printed on watercolor paper, ceramic tiles to be installed in Briggs 122, and fabric. Their designs are nothing short of spectacular!"

Ullman, a noted artist and entomologist, wasn't an "official co-teacher," Meineke said, but she "helped immensely."

A celebrated teacher, artist and researcher, Ullman is the founder and co-director of the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program, established in 2016.  Highly honored by her peers, Ullman received the Entomological Society of America (ESA) National Excellence in Teaching Award in 2014 and the UC Davis Academic Senate's Distinguished Teaching Award for undergraduate teaching in 2022. She is a fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2014) and the ESA (2011); former chair of the Department of Entomology (2004-05); and former associate dean for undergraduate academic programs for CA&ES (2005-2014).

Many of those attending brought a t-shirt to received a free screen print of one of the designs.

"We were kept busy," Ullman related.

Meineke, recently named one of the 12 UC Davis recipients of the prestigious Hellman Fellowships, an annual program supporting the research of early-career faculty, was among the scholars and artists who helped spearhead the newly created Harvard Museum of Natural History's “In Search of Thoreau's Flowers: An Exploration of Change and Loss." It's hailed as an examination of the natural world and climate change at the intersections of science, art and history.  Meineke helped launch the project in 2017 when she was a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard University Herbaria. The 648 plant specimens that Henry David Thoreau donated to the museum form the foundation of the exhibit. It opened to the public May 14.

UC Davis entomologist Jenella Loye of Carroll-Loye Biological Research shared some of her images with us. She and husband, Scott Carroll, are research associates with the Department of Entomology and Nematology.

And here...drum roll...are images from "Insects in the Anthropocene."

If you like ants--and you should--then you won't want to miss this seminar sponsored by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.

Brazilian-born scientist Mônica Antunes Ulysséa, a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Corrie Moreau,  Cornell University,  will speak on "Morphology for Assessing Species Diversity and Previously Unknown Biological Traits of the Ant Genus Hylomyrma" at a virtual seminar at 4:10 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 7.

The Zoom link: https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/95882849672.

Host is doctoral candidate and ant specialist Jill Oberski of the laboratory of Professor Phil Ward, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.

"Hylomyrma is a Neotropical ant genus of small to midsized ants, cryptic inhabitants of the leaf-litter of wet and dry environments, with a remarkable body sculpture," Ulysséa says in her abstract. "They occur from sea level to 3,600m, from Mexico to northern Argentina and southern Brazil; its higher diversity is in the Amazon. Out of the 30 recognized species, 11 have females whose external morphology combines morphological traits of workers and queens, and at least three of them present female specimens with queen-like traits. These mosaic specimens sent me back to fieldwork to investigate more about the genus biology. I went to Serra do Cipó, Brazil, to find nests of the endemic Hylomyrma primavesi. Hence, for the first time, the H. primavesi nest architecture and the colony size were documented, the ergatoid queen, male and immatures were collected, and the behavior of the forage workers and their feeding preferences based on field and lab observations were recorded."

Ulysséa specializes in myrmecology, taxonomy, phylogeny, systematics, curatorial practices, and science dissemination. She received a 2018-2023 postdoctoral fellowship at  (2018-2023) to study in the Moreau lab. Professor Moreau, who teaches arthropod biosystematics and biodiversity, directs and curates the Cornell University Insect Collection.

The host, Jill Oberski, relates: "I met Mônica in February 2020 at the Museu de Zoologia in São Paulo, Brazil, during a visit I was making for my dissertation research on Dorymyrmex. She was helpful in coordinating my visit and her work on taxonomy of Hylomyrma ants is very similar to mine—just a different focal genus. I'm excited to host her for this week's seminar and learn about her work in a formal setting."

Oberski just returned from the 2022 Entomological Society of America meeting in Vancouver, B.C., where she served as a member of the UC Davis Entomology Games Team that won the national championship. The Entomology Games, aka "The Bug Bowl," is a lively question-and-answer, college bowl-style competition on entomological facts played between university-sponsored student teams. Oberski teamed with captain Zachary Griebenow of the Phil Ward lab;  Erin “Taylor” Kelly of the Geoffrey Attardo lab; and Madison “Madi” Hendrick of the Ian Grettenberger lab to edge out Alabama's Auburn University. UC Davis has won four national championships since 2015.  (See Bug Squad blog)

Ulysséa's resume includes:

• Doctorate from the Zoology Museum of University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, Graduate Program in Systematics, Animal Taxonomy, and Biodiversity (2013-2017) 
• Internship at Sorbonne University, Pierre and Marie Curie Campus, Paris/France (2015-2016).
• Master's degree in zoology, Graduate Program in Zoology at the State University of Feira de Santana, BA/Brazil (2010-2012).
• Bachelor and licentiate in biological sciences at Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, SC/Brazil (2002-2008)

Urban landscape entomologist Emily Meineke, assistant professor, coordinates the department's seminars. This is the last of the fall seminars. For further information on the seminars or technical difficulties with Zoom, contact Meineke at ekmeineke@ucdavis.edu.

Ants will take the spotlight at the next UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology seminar.

Brazilian-born scientist Mônica Antunes Ulysséa, a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Corrie Moreau,  Cornell University,  will speak on "Morphology for Assessing Species Diversity and Previously Unknown Biological Traits of the Ant Genus Hylomyrma" at a virtual seminar at 4:10 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 7.

The Zoom link: https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/95882849672. Host is doctoral candidate Jill Oberski of the Phil Ward laboratory.

"Hylomyrma is a Neotropical ant genus of small to midsized ants, cryptic inhabitants of the leaf-litter of wet and dry environments, with a remarkable body sculpture," she says in her abstract. "They occur from sea level to 3,600m, from Mexico to northern Argentina and southern Brazil; its higher diversity is in the Amazon. Out of the 30 recognized species, 11 have females whose external morphology combines morphological traits of workers and queens, and at least three of them present female specimens with queen-like traits. These mosaic specimens sent me back to fieldwork to investigate more about the genus biology. I went to Serra do Cipó, Brazil, to find nests of the endemic Hylomyrma primavesi. Hence, for the first time, the H. primavesi nest architecture and the colony size were documented, the ergatoid queen, male and immatures were collected, and the behavior of the forage workers and their feeding preferences based on field and lab observations were recorded."

Ulyssea specializes in myrmecology, taxonomy, phylogeny, systematics, curatorial practices, and science dissemination. She received a 2018-2023 postdoctoral fellowship at Zoology Museum of University of Sao Paulo (2018-2023) to study in the Moreau lab. Professor Moreau, who teaches arthropod biosystematics and biodiversity, directs and curates the Cornell University Insect Collection.   

Ulyssea's resume includes:

• Doctorate from the Zoology Museum of University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, Graduate Program in Systematics, Animal Taxonomy, and Biodiversity (2013-2017) 
• Internship at Sorbonne University, Pierre and Marie Curie Campus, Paris/France (2015-2016).
• Master's degree in zoology, Graduate Program in Zoology at the State University of Feira de Santana, BA/Brazil (2010-2012).
• Bachelor and licentiate in biological sciences at Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, SC/Brazil (2002-2008)