- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
For the beekeepers that's easy. They dislike the pests known as "wax moths" and their larvae.
The female wax moths hang around the hives at night and when the opportunity arises, slip in to lay their eggs. If the colony is weak, this pest can take over.
The honey bee bible, The Hive and the Honey Bee (Dadant Publication), says the wax moth female "produces less than 300 eggs during her life span of 3 to 30 days, but a few lay as many as 2000 eggs. Mated females fly to beehives one to three hours after dark, enter, and lay eggs until they leave shortly before daylight."
The Hive and the Honey Bee authors relate that "the presence of the wax moth larvae usually signals a major problem such as queenlessness, an infectious disease, poisoning and starvation."
In his book, Honey Bee Biology (2023 Princeton University), bee scientist Brian Johnson, associate professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, touches on colony pests in addition to his indepth coverage of everything from molecular genetics, development, and physiology to neurobiology, behavior, and pollination biology.
Johnson writes in part: "The greater wax moth (Galleria mellonella) and the lesser wax moth (Achroia grisella) are old and well-known pests of honey bees. The female moth lays her eggs on the comb and the larvae consume the wax, pollen and honey. In nature, these pests are mainly a threat to weak colonies, as strong colonies can kill their larvae." He goes on to mention that beekeepers who inadequately store large amounts of wax combs may be subject to wax moth infestations. He recommends air tight storage and the use of mothballs.
The larvae are not always unwanted. They've been introduced as an alternative model to study microbial infections.
So, in keeping with National Moth Week, the Bohart Museum of Entomology is hosting its annual Moth Night from 7 to 11 p.m. on Saturday, July 20 at its headquarters in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455Crocker Lane, UC Davis. Inside, Jeff Smith, curator of the Bohart's Lepidoptera collection, and his colleagues will be displaying moth specimens and answering questions. Outside, Bohart research associate John "Moth Man" De Benedictus will set up a blacklighting display, complete with white sheet and a UV light to attract moths and other night-flying insects.
The open house is free and family friendly. Also free: hot chocolate and cookies, according to Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator.
Founded in 1946, the Bohart Museum is the home of a global collection of eight million insect specimens. It also features a petting zoo (including Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks and tarantulas) and a gift shop stocked with insect-themed t-shirts, hoodies, books, posters, jewelry and more. The museum is directed by Professor Jason Bond, the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and associate dean, Agricultural Sciences, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
![Close-up of the larvae of the greater wax moth (Galleria mellonella), pests of honey bee colonies. Also shown is another bee colony pest, a hive beetle. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) Close-up of the larvae of the greater wax moth (Galleria mellonella), pests of honey bee colonies. Also shown is another bee colony pest, a hive beetle. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/107877.jpg)
![This is the greater wax moth (Galleria mellonella) from the Bohart Museum of Entomology Lepidoptera collection. (Photo by Jeff Smith) This is the greater wax moth (Galleria mellonella) from the Bohart Museum of Entomology Lepidoptera collection. (Photo by Jeff Smith)](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/107883.jpg)
![This is the lesser wax moth, Achroia grisella, from the Bohart Museum of Entomology Lepidoptera collection. (Photo by Jeff Smith) This is the lesser wax moth, Achroia grisella, from the Bohart Museum of Entomology Lepidoptera collection. (Photo by Jeff Smith)](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/107884.jpg)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
"I took a gap decade. During that time I had a series of eclectic jobs and life experiences. Those experiences proved extremely useful during my PhD."
Lamas, a former commercial beekeeper in New Hampshire, will share his life and research experiences at a seminar hosted by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, on Monday, April 15.
His seminar, titled "How Doing a PhD Is Like Building a House," begins at 4:10 p.m. in Room 122 of Briggs Hall. It also will be on Zoom. The Zoom link:
https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/9 5882849672
"This presentation describes how the intersection of life experiences and my PhD led to creative and generative research that led to large discovery in disease transmission dynamics in collapsing honey bee colonies," Lamas says.
A first-generation college student, Lamas received his bachelor's degree in biology in 2008 from Colby-Sawyer College, a private college in New London, New Hampshire. He obtained his doctorate in entomology at the University of Maryland in 2022.
He credits his mentor, USDA-ARS research entomologist Jay Evans of the Bee Research Laboratory, Beltsville, MD., with encouraging him to apply to become an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) fellow with the USDA-ARS Research Participation Program.
Lamas, known as "Dr. Zac," has presented programs on his research and beekeeping management to state beekeeping associations in California, Texas, Florida, Colorado, Virginia, Missouri, West Virginia, and Washington State, among others, and has addressed the American Beekeeping Federation, American Honey Producers' Association and Apimondia. Globally, he has delivered presentations to Apimondia, Montreal, Canada, and to the Eurbee 8th Congress of Apidology, Ghent, Belgium.
Lamas rears open-mated carniolans. "These are docile, productive bees, that I produce for my own experiments," he writes on his website. "We can literally pet our bees during experiments. This level of docility allows us to work intimately with the bees, sitting in front of open colonies for long periods to collect samples."
Lamas is a noted researcher on varroa mites. "Who do Varroa really feed on? Check out this presentation where I share a new finding of Varroa destructor I carried out three years of research, and along with collaborators (including my family!) individually inspected over 30,000 bees to describe the distribution of Varroa inside a colony." (See YouTube presentation.)
Lamas' recent publications involve varroa mites, infectious diseases and pesticides:
- Zachary S. Lamas, Eugene V. Ryabov, David J. Hawthorne, Jay D. Evans, "Oversharing by honey bees and the spread of viruses," bioRxiv 2022.05.15.492017; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.05.15.492017
- Ryabov EV, Posada-Florez F, Rogers C, Lamas ZS, Evans JD, Chen Y and Cook SC (2022) "The vectoring competence of the mite Varroa destructor for deformed wing virus of honey bees is dynamic and affects survival of the mite," Frontiers in Insect Science. 2:931352. DOI: 10.3389/finsc.2022.931352
- Posada-Florez, F., Lamas, Z.S., Hawthorne, D.J. et al. "Pupal cannibalism by worker honey bees contributes to the spread of deformed wing virus," Scientific Reports 11, 8989 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-88649-y
- Alger, S.A.1, Burnham, P.A., Lamas, Z.S2, Brody, A.K., Richardson, L.R., (2017). "Home sick: impacts of migratory beekeeping on honey bee (Apis mellifera) pests, pathogens, and colony size," PeerJ 6:e5812; DOI 10.7717/peerj.5812
- Kirsten S. Traynor, Dennis vanEngelsdorp, Zachary S. Lamas, "Social disruption: Sublethal pesticides in pollen lead to Apis mellifera queen events and brood loss," Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, Volume 214, 2021, 112105, ISSN 0147-6513, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoenv.2021.112105
Honey bee scientist Brian Johnson, associate professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, is coordinating the department's seminars for the 2023-24 academic year. For any Zoom technical issues, he may be reached at brnjohnson@ucdavis.edu.
The complete list of spring quarter seminars is here.
![Honey bee scientist Zac Lamas, a National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) postdoctoral fellow with the USDA's Agricultural Research Services. Honey bee scientist Zac Lamas, a National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) postdoctoral fellow with the USDA's Agricultural Research Services.](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/106011.jpg)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Bees comprise more than 20,000 described species in seven families and are found on all continents except Antarctica, but where did they originate? And when did they originate?
Cornell University alumnus Eduardo Almeida, an associate professor at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, will discuss “The Evolutionary History of Bees in Time and Space” at a seminar hosted by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology on Monday, April 8.
The seminar begins at 4:10 p.m. in 122 Briggs Hall, and also will be on Zoom. The Zoom link:
https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/95882849672
"Bees likely originated in the Early Cretaceous (120 million years ago), shortly before the breakup of Western Gondwana (Africa and South America), and the early evolution of any major bee lineage is associated with either the South American or African land masses," Almeida says in his abstract.
"I will present the results of an investigation on bee biogeograpy using extensive new genomic and fossil data to demonstrate that bees originated in Western Gondwana. Bees later colonized northern continents via a complex history of vicariance and dispersal. The notable early absences of these insects from large landmasses, particularly in Australia and India, have important implications for understanding the assembly of local floras and diverse modes of pollination. The partnership between flowering plants and bees began in the Cretaceous, and the history of how bees spread around the world from their hypothesized southern hemisphere origin parallels the histories of numerous plant clades."
Almeida, who joined the University of São Paulo in 2011, conducts research on bee evolution, and is particularly interested in phylogenomics, comparative morphology, biogeography, and associations with host plants.
A native of Brazil, he received his doctorate in 2007 from Cornell University, where he studied with major professor Bryan Danforth. Almedia's focus: the biogeographic history of colletid bees. Prior to enrolling in the doctoral program at Cornell, he obtained his bachelor of science degree (biology) and his master's degree (ecology) from the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil. He speaks Portuguese, English, Spanish and French.
Almeida and his colleagues published a research paper in August 2023 in the journal, Current Biology, on "The Evolutionary History of Bees in Time and Space."
The summary: "Bees are the most significant pollinators of flowering plants. This partnership began ca. 120 million years ago, but the uncertainty of how and when bees spread across the planet has greatly obscured investigations of this key mutualism. We present a novel analysis of bee biogeography using extensive new genomic and fossil data to demonstrate that bees originated in Western Gondwana (Africa and South America). Bees likely originated in the Early Cretaceous, shortly before the breakup of Western Gondwana, and the early evolution of any major bee lineage is associated with either the South American or African land masses. Subsequently, bees colonized northern continents via a complex history of vicariance and dispersal. The notable early absences from large landmasses, particularly in Australia and India, have important implications for understanding the assembly of local floras and diverse modes of pollination. How bees spread around the world from their hypothesized Southern Hemisphere origin parallels the histories of numerous flowering plant clades, providing an essential step to studying the evolution of angiosperm pollination syndromes in space and time."
Coordinating the department's spring seminars is associate professor Brian Johnson. For any technical Zoom issues, he may be reached at brnjohnson@ucdavis.edu.
The complete list of spring quarter seminars is here.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
All seminars are on Mondays at 4:10 p.m. in Room 122 of Briggs Hall and also will be on Zoom. The Zoom link:
https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/95882849672.
No seminar will take place on Monday, Jan. 15, which is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a university holiday.
On tap for Monday, Jan. 22 is William Ja, associate professor, Herbert Wertheim Scripps UF Institute for Biomedical Innovation and Technology in Jupiter, Florida.
He will present "Eat, Excrete, & Die: Regulation of Homeostatic Behaviors and Aging in Drosophila."
"The Ja lab uses the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, as a model organism for uncovering the genetic and neuronal mechanisms that drive aging, behavior, and disease, Ja says in his abstract. "Recently developed tools allow us to track fly feeding behavior with unparalleled resolution. These tools facilitate the identification of genes and circuits that regulate food intake at diverse time scales, including studies of: 1) meal intake; 2) daily (circadian) feeding rhythms; and 3) compensatory feeding in response to high or low quality food. Our studies of feeding behavior and nutrition also inform aging interventions, including a novel caloric restriction paradigm and an intermittent fasting regime that extends fly life through the stimulation of circadian-regulated autophagy. Overall, our fly studies shed light on basic neurobiological principles that drive animal behavior, providing insights that potentially inform the development of conserved therapeutic strategies."
Ja received his chemistry degree at UC Berkeley, working with Richard Mathies and Alex Glazer on DNA sequencing technologies. He pursued doctoral studies at the California Institute of Technology with Rich Roberts, utilizing mRNA display technology to identify modulators of G protein signaling. Ja remained at Cal Tech as a postdoctoral scholar to work with Seymour Benzer on developing longevity ‘drugs' in Drosophila. His laboratory focuses on aging and nutrition, animal behavior, and host-microbiome interactions.
Upcoming seminars:
Monday, Jan. 29
Todd Johnson
Assistant professor of forest entomology, Louisiana State University
Title: "Characterizing Ecological Interactions of Arthropods in Forests under Global Change"
Monday, Feb. 5
Orie Shafer
Professor of biology and cognitive neuroscience, City University of New York
Title: "Circadian and Homeostatic Regulation of Fly Sleep"
Monday, Feb. 12
Peter Piermarini
Professor and associate chair of entomology, The Ohio State University, Wooster
Title: "Discovery of Novel Chemical Tools for Controlling the Most Dangerous Animals on Earth"
Monday, Feb. 26
Dorith Rotenberg
Professor and director of graduate programs, Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University
Title: "Advances and Innovations in the Characterization of Molecular Interactions Between Frankliniella occidentalis and Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus."
Monday, March 4
Salil Bidaye
Research Group Leader, Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience
Title: "How Flies Control How They Walk by Knowing When and How to Stop"
Adler Dillman, professor of parasitology and nematology and chair of the Department of Nematollgoy, UC Riverside, launched the series on Jan. 8. (See Bug Squad blog)
Seminar coordinator is Brian Johnson, associate professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. For Zoom technical issues, he may be reached at brnjohnson@ucdavis.edu. More information on the seminars is here.
/span>![A cartoon from the William Ja lab. Ja, with the Herbert Wertheim Scripps UF Institute for Biomedical Innovation and Technology in Jupiter, Florida, will speak on A cartoon from the William Ja lab. Ja, with the Herbert Wertheim Scripps UF Institute for Biomedical Innovation and Technology in Jupiter, Florida, will speak on](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/104223.jpg)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
His seminar will be in Room 122 of Briggs Hall and also will be on Zoom. The Zoom link: https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/95882849672. Associate professor and nematologist Shahid Siddique of the Department of Entomology and Nematology is the host.
Dillman, a professor of parasiotology and nematology, chairs the UCR Department of Nematology. He holds a bachelor's degree in microbiology from Brigham Young University (2006) and a doctorate in genetics (2013) from the California Institute of Technology.
The abstract of his UC Davis seminar:
Known as an excellent investigator and teacher, Dillman won the 2022 UC Riverside Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement; the 2021 Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Society of Nematologists, and a 2020 Outstanding Investigator Award, Maximizing Investigators' Research Award (MIRA).
His lab page details his research. Recently a guest of an episode on the podcast Something Offbeat, he discussed a scientific article on a case of Ophidascaris robertsi infection in a human brain.
Seminar coordinator is Brian Johnson, associate professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. For Zoom technical issues, he may be reached at brnjohnson@ucdavis.edu. The list of seminars is here.