- 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: Denise Godbout-Avant
Bees are pollinators. Pollinators are crucial to the success of flowering plants by transporting pollen, thus allowing fertilization to occur. We would not have fruits and vegetables on our kitchen tables without them. They are vital to California's agriculture industry.
California's wide diversity of habitats supports a corresponding diversity of pollinators. Bees are the main pollinators with butterflies, other insects, and some birds such as hummingbirds also playing important roles. California has an estimated 1,200 – 1,500 native bees and over 200 species of butterflies.
What do Pollinators Require?
Due to climate change, the reduction of native habitats, and environmental chemicals, many pollinators are struggling. Providing plants in our gardens that attract pollinators can produce lovely, colorful landscapes while also benefiting pollinators.
Visit La Loma Native Plant Garden's Festival
You can see native plants that attract pollinators by visiting La Loma's Native plant garden on 1805 Encina Avenue in Modesto anytime. Or attend the Pollinator Festival, a free event held by the North San Joaquin Chapter of the California Native Plant Society on Saturday, April 13th 2024 from 10am – 2pm. Stop by the UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardener booth to see our insect collection and get a free packet of flower seeds.
The event will have a pollinator parade at 10:15, as well as face painting, music, food, and more! You can also hear from an entomologist on the importance of pollinators.
Learn More In-Depth Information About Pollinators at Library Talks
Denise Godbout-Avant has been a UC Cooperative Extension Master Garden in Stanislaus County since 2020.
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- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
But you will. It's a photograph titled "Painted Wings" by Regan Van Tuyl, 13 of Dixon.
UC Davis distinguished professor Art Shapiro identified it as the ventral side of a Sara Orange-Tip (See https://butterfly.ucdavis.edu/butterfly/anthocharis/sara-sara)
“The Sara Orange-Tip is common in foothill and lower montane habitats (Coast Range/Bay Area and Sierran West slope) but is hardly ever encountered in the Central Valley,” Shapiro writes on his website, Art's Butterfly World. “It ‘flies a bea' along roadsides and streamsides in foothill woodland and montane coniferous forest, and along the bases of cliffs in canyons. It often flies in and out of dappled light and shade but is less shade-tolerant than the Gray-Veined White. In the Sierra Nevada it is rarely seen above 5000' (except at Donner Pass, where it is seen nearly every year at the West end), replaced upslope by the Stella Orange-Tip with a ‘no-man's land' around 5000' where both may be seen but neither seems to breed. In the Klamath-Trinity-Siskiyou Mountains in N.W. California, where there is no Stella, Sara goes up to 9000'--suggesting that one entity somehow excludes the other in the Sierra Nevada.”
We can't tell you awards entries won because the fair isn't open yet. On the first day of the fair, Thursday, June 15 (free admission), the hours are 4 to to 10 p.m.
The theme? "Celebrate Solano."
But if you like insects—and you should—you'll not only "Celebrate Solano" but "Celebrate Insects." You'll see a few bees and butterflies (including a morpho) in McCormack Hall, home of junior exhibits. McCormack Hall's superintendent is Sharon Payne of Roseville, (formerly of Vallejo), a past president of the Solano County 4-H Leaders' Council and a veteran 4-H leader (14 years). Her daughter, Julianna Payne Brown of Benicia, also a 4-H veteran, serves as the assistant superintendent of McCormack Hall.
In Fine Arts (senior division), check out the acrylic oil painting of Caitlin Douglas of Vallejo. It's entered under "Open Art, Plants and Animals." A portion of her painting depicts a honey bee foraging on clover. It is titled, appropriately, "Clover Honey." See more on the Solano County Fair website.
Heading the Solano County Fair Board of Directors is Valerie Williams of Vacaville, who retired last year after a 25-year career as the Solano County 4-H Program Representative, with UC Cooperative Extension.
Did we mention that this month is National Pollinators Month?
- Author: Denise Godbout-Avant
Pollinators that hang around our gardens include bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, beetles, and flies. While all these pollinators are important, bees make up about 50% of pollinators.
Native Bees Prominent Role
When you see bees in your garden, you likely see many European honeybees (Apis mellifera), who are crucially important to the Central Valley's agriculture since Honeybees pollinate 90% of the almond crop. But Honeybees are not the only bees in search of nectar in farmers' fields and our gardens. There over 4,000 species of native bees in the United States, with about 1,600 in California.
Native bees play an important role in pollinating our plants since they are 200 times more efficient at pollination than Honeybees. Studies in the Central Valley have shown three dozen or so native bee species provide sufficient pollination services for a single farm. For example, pollinating an acre of apples requires 60,000-120,000 Honeybees; the same area can be pollinated by 250-750 Mason bees (Megachile).
Social Characteristics and Nesting Habits
Most bees are solitary in nature, generally producing honey only for their own consumption and/or for their young. Nesting habits vary from social hives/colonies to solitary nesting in the ground or woody material.
- Social vs. Solitary bees:
o Solitary bees make up 99% of all bees in North America, with social bees making up less than 1%. Only Honeybees and Bumblebees are social, living in colonies, with all other bees being solitary. Most Honeybees are domesticated, living in hives. Bumblebees live in the wild, in colonies which are generally underground. Honeybee hives will have a population of 10,000-50,000 bees, while Bumblebees will have only 50-400 in their colonies.
- Ground nesting bees make up 70% of bees:
o Mining bees and Digger bees (Adrena): As their names indicate, these bees have a ground-nesting lifestyle. From the outside, the tunnels look like holes with a ring of loose soil around them and can be mistaken for small ant hills or earthworm mounds. Mining bees are active only in the spring for 4-8 weeks during which the females dig tunnels to lay their eggs and raise their young. Both bees are extremely docile, rarely stinging.
- Stem and wood nesting bees make up 30% of bees:
o Leafcutter bees (Megachilidae) use a “wrapper” of leaves, resin, and sand to build their nests in natural or artificial cavities. If you see some leaves in your garden with their distinctive circular “cut out,” you will know you have some in your area. They are about the same size as honeybees, but their bodies are black and furry while Honeybees are dark brown to black and yellow striped.
o Mason beesconstruct their nests from mud, preferring hollow stems or holes made by wood-boring insects. Some people hang bee “houses” with hollow tubes to attract these bees to nest in their yard.
Generalist vs. Specialist Bees
Some bees are generalists, getting their nectar from a wide variety of flowers. These include the Bumblebee and the Mason bee.
Other bees are specialists, feeding only from very specific flowers, such as the Squash bee (two genera: Peponapis and Xenoglossa) or the Sunflower bee (Megachile) with their common names indicating which type of flowers they favor.
Other Native Bees
Other bees you may see in your garden:
- Carpenter bees (Apidae): Females are shiny black and can sting, but only if provoked. Males are golden and can't sting. Their name derives from their nesting behavior; nearly all species burrow into hard plant material such as dead wood or bamboo. Occasionally they may nest in unpainted wood siding of buildings.
- Sweat bees (Halictidae): Sweat bees' common name is due to their tendency to land on and lick the sweat from people's skin! One of the coolest looking bees in this group is the green sweat bee, which has a shiny, iridescent exoskeleton. Most of these bees nest in the ground, though some nest in wood. Some species are cleptoparasites, meaning they will lay their eggs on food in another species' nest and after hatching, the larva kills the host's larva!
- Long-horned bees (Melissodes): With medium to large bodies, this non-aggressive group gets their names from the long antennae of the males, which females lack. Females have a solitary nest in the ground whereas males sleep outside, often spending the night in groups on the surface of a flower.
Bees are in Trouble
Some ways you can help:
- Plant a garden full of flowering plants to attract bees and other pollinators. Make sure you have something blooming during each of the spring, summer, and fall seasons. Whenever possible, plant native plants since native bees and plants evolved together.
- If you use a pesticide, choose one that is less toxic such as a horticultural soap or oil and spray in early morning or evening when pollinators are unlikely to be present. (https://ipm.ucanr.edu/GENERAL/pesticides_urban.html)
- Provide spaces for nesting bees, with bee houses and bare patches of soil, along with a source of water.
By providing a bee-friendly garden, you can help the vital native bee pollinators thrive.
Denise Godbout-Avant has been a UCCE Master Gardener with Stanislaus County since 2020
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That's the theme of the 146th annual Dixon May Fair, the 36th District Agricultural Association.
It's been a long, cold winter and we're ready for that! So are the exhibitors and fairgoers.
When the fair opens Thursday, May 11 and continues through Sunday, May 14 at 655 S. First St., Dixon, you'll see bees, butterflies and blossoms--and much more--exhibited in Today's Youth Building (Denverton Hall) and in the Floriculture Building.
Denverton Hall superintendent Bernadette "Bernie" Jacquot of Gridley, former exhibits supervisor at the Butte County Fair, has served more than 30 years in the fair industry.
A few of the insect-related exhibits in the Today's Youth Showcase (since this is a Bug Squad blog):
- A crocheted bumble bee, the work of Faith Ford, 14, of Vacaville
- A wall hanging of a butterfly by Elizabeth Martinez, 14, of Elk Grove
- A photo of a lady beetle, aka ladybug, by Isabelle Johnson-Lopez, 11, of Fairfield
- Butterfly art hanging (diamond art) by Regan Van Tuyl, 13 of Dixon
- A photo of a butterfly titled "Painted Wings" by Regan VanTuyl, 13 of Dixon (identified by UC Davis distinguished professor Art Shapiro as the ventral side of a Sara Orange-Tip (See https://butterfly.ucdavis.edu/butterfly/anthocharis/sara-sara)
- A "bee happy" tote bag, the work of Jessie Means, 15, of Vacaville
On one wall, Connelly has created what looks like a Matilija poppy plant, complete with a six-sectioned white ceramic platter for the petals, centered with a cluster of yellow ribbons. In another area, her honey bee with widespread yellow wings is heading for a purple flower, already occupied by a golden bee.
Key information about the fair:
Thursday, May 11: 4 to 10 p.m. (Ticket sales and buildings close at 9 p.m.) No re-entry after 9 p.m.
Friday, May 12: Noon to 11 p.m. (Ticket sales and buildings close at 10 p.m.) No re-entry after 10 p.m.
Saturday, May 13: 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. (Ticket sales and buildings close at 10 p.m.) No re-entry after 10 p.m.
Sunday, May 14: Noon to 10 p.m. (Ticket sales and buildings close at 9 p.m.) No re-entry after 9 p.m.
SPECIAL DAYS
THRIFTY THURSDAY, May 11: $5 admission for everyone 5 years of age and older
KIDS' DAY FRIDAY, May 12: Children 12 and under free fair admission all day
GATE PRICES
Adult 13 and Over: $15
Children 5 to 12 years of age: $10
Children 4 & Under: Free fair admission
Senior Citizen Discount: 65 and over, $10
Military Discount, with an active duty card, $10
Parking: $5 per vehicle
Access the fair website for information on musical entertainment, special shows, and rules. The Dixon Fair May chief executive officer is Patricia "Pat" Conklin, a veteran fair manager with 40-plus years of management experience in the fair industry (deputy CEO of the Solano County Fair, CEO of Butte County Fair, CEO of Sonoma-Marin Fairs and then CEO of the Dixon May Fair, beginning in 2012.) She was inducted into the Western Fairs' Association Hall of Fame in 2022.
Pat grew up in Dixon and, as a member of both the 4-H and FFA programs, showed livestock in the same fair that she manages today.
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