- Author: Anne Schellman
This event was created by Amber O'Brien-VerHulst, Library Assistant for the Modesto Library Teen and Children's Department who did an amazing job! After library staff welcomed in the “Hogwarts students,” they were “sorted” into their respective houses of Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, or Hufflepuff. Next, the students had the opportunity to:
- Make a “Rememberall”
- Visit the Room of Requirements
- Take an “Herbology” class with UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardener volunteers
In the second Harry Potter book called “The Chamber of Secrets,” Harry and his friends take a class called “Herbology.” During one class, their assignment is to repot a magical creature called a mandrake. This plant resembles a small, grouchy baby and has an earsplitting, dangerous scream.
In our Herbology class, the students safely repotted “Aragog's grandbabies,” which were actually spider plants. In the story, Aragog was a very large spider that Harry and Ron met, so we thought these plants were an appropriate choice for the activity. Kids of all ages enjoyed learning about spider plants, naming their spider, and planting it in a pot to take home. Special thanks to MJC nursery for donating the plants!
Speaking of plants, did you know you can study horticultural science in Modesto?
To learn more, stop by the MJC east campus Environmental Horticulture Department to see the classrooms and inviting study lounge, https://www.mjc.edu/instruction/agens/ehs.php and then visit the MJC Nursery and purchase affordable plants grown by students. To learn more, visit their Facebook page at. https://www.facebook.com/MjcPlantNursery/
In closing, if you haven't been to the library lately, winter is a great time to snuggle up with a good book! If you don't have a library card, apply for one at a local branch (there are 11!) in Stanislaus County. Check the website for hours and locations at https://www.stanislauslibrary.org/.
- Author: Karey Windbiel-Rojas
- Posted by: Lauren Fordyce
The invasive pest spotlight focuses on emerging or potential invasive pests in California. In this issue, we cover the brown widow spider.
Brown Widow Spider Facts
The brown widow spider became established in Southern California in 2000 and appears to be displacing the black widow in some of its habitats, especially in urban areas. They build their webs in secluded areas around homes and in vegetation. Mature female brown widows are smaller than mature female western black widows. The normal brown widow spider coloration is a mottled mixture of tan, brown, and gray. It has a lengthwise stripe halfway up the back side of the abdomen with two isolated dots in front of it and diagonal stripes on the side. The brown widow spider does have an hourglass, but it is typically orange rather than the vivid red of a black widow. Male brown widows are much smaller than other widow spiders. Like black widows, brown widow spiders make irregular webs of strong silk. The egg sac of the brown widow spider has protuberances of silk all over its surface, resembling a very large pollen grain. The sac is so characteristic that it can be used to confirm that brown widows are present even if the spiders themselves are not seen.
What can you do?
The bite of the brown widow spider is much milder than the black widow so the risk of serious injury from their bite is less. If you spot a brown widow spider in your garden or around your home, manage it as you would any spider. Clear up clutter like wood piles to reduce nesting sites. Check under patio furniture for nesting spiders and sweep down their webs.
For more information on widow spiders, visit http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74149.html.
- Author: Lynn S. Kimsey
- Posted by: Lauren Fordyce
Arachnophobia: Should You Be Afraid of Spiders?
Fear of spiders, arachnophobia, is a widespread problem in western societies. This fear is not only of spiders but can extend to all land arthropods with more than six legs—the arachnids. It can range from simply avoiding arachnids to panic attacks, high heart rates, and flight behavior. It's not clear if arachnophobia is a learned response or something instinctive. However, it is much commoner in western societies than elsewhere. In other parts of the world, spiders may even be part of the diet. Fear of spiders can result in stress, wasted time, and environmental costs through overuse of insecticides. Insecticides are often used to kill spiders, but unless you directly spray the spider or its web, insecticides have little effect.
What are arachnids?
Arachnids include spiders, mites, ticks, scorpions, harvestmen, whip scorpions, camel spiders, and vinegaroons. Of these, only spiders, mites and ticks, and scorpions have venom. Arachnids differ from insects in several ways. They have eight or more legs and two major body parts, the cephalothorax (a fused head and thorax) and abdomen. They don't have wings or antennae. Spiders are different from other arachnids because they can spin silk from structures called spinnerets at the end of the abdomen. They are much more commonly found in homes and gardens. Spiders do not have chewing mouthparts or legs modified to capture prey, so they rely on venom to both incapacitate their prey and begin digestion..
In California, spiders commonly encountered around buildings include jumping spiders, tarantulas, orb weavers, sheet web spiders, cellar spiders, wolf spiders and widow spiders.
Which spiders are dangerous?
Culturally, we're taught to fear certain spiders more than other arachnids, except for scorpions. Among these are black widows, brown recluse, and hobo spiders. Many issues are attributed to spider bites. However, in most cases of “spider bites” spiders were not actually involved. A sharp pain followed by development of a lesion or sore is not a sign of a spider bite but could instead be due to a staph or strep bacterial infection.
Humans are largely unaffected by the venom of most spider species. During the entire 20th century, only about 100 deaths from spider bites occurred worldwide.
Only a few spiders have venom that is dangerous to humans, including the Sydney funnel web spider of Australia, widow spiders (Latrodectus), Brazilian wandering spider, and the African sand spider.
Widow spiders
The only potentially dangerous spiders in California are widow spiders. Both the native western black widow spider and the invasive brown widow spider occur in California. These are smooth bodied, shiny spiders, with long slender legs, and a bulbous abdomen in the females. They appear to be hairless. Females have a bright hourglass shaped mark on the underside of the abdomen.
Widow spiders make messy webs in sheltered sites. The silk is several times as strong as silk produced by other spiders and has a different feel when touched. These tough silk threads are also smooth and homogeneous. During WWII widow silk was used to make the crosshairs in gunsights for the U.S. Army.
Widow spiders are abundant in urban and suburban habitats. In some regions of California there might be as many as 20 to 30 black widows per property. They are shy, reclusive spiders and live in quiet dark places. They generally retreat into hiding places when confronted by any animal larger than they are. Actual widow bites are rare and rarer still do they inject venom. Instead many widow bites are what are called dry bites. Black widow venom is neurotoxic and can cause fever, muscle and joint aches and muscle cramping. It does not cause sores, and it is rarely fatal. There is an effective antivenom available for treating black widow bites.
Recluse spiders
Recluse spiders also have bad reputations. These are ground-dwelling spiders in the genus Loxosceles that somewhat resemble wolf spiders. There are several species across the U.S., but only two occur in California, L. deserta and the introduced L. laeta, but most people focus on the brown recluse, L. reclusa. California has the largest number of diagnosed brown recluse spider bites in the U.S., yet the brown recluse does not occur within 1,000 miles of California. Essentially, all recluse bites in California are probably bacterial infections.
True to their name, recluse spiders are very shy and occur in dark quiet places. Recluse spiders appear to be even more reluctant to bite than widow spiders. In an example of this, in the early 2000's a Kansas family began collecting spiders in their century old farmhouse. After one year they had collected more than 2,000 brown recluse spiders. No one had ever been bitten.
Hobo spiders
Hobo spiders, Eratigena agrestis, are found in Washington and Oregon, and perhaps far northern California. This spider is also a ground dweller and resembles a small wolf spider. Online, its bite is said to be as dangerous as recluse spiders, causing necrotic sores. This is also an urban myth. Sores attributed to hobo spiders are generally caused by bacterial infections.
For more information on spiders, see Dr. Kimsey's webinar on the UC IPM YouTube channel.
[Originally featured in the Fall 2022 issue of UC IPM's Home & Garden Pest Newsletter.]
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Have you ever seen a freeloader fly trying to sneak a meal?
Since it's Friday Fly Day--and the best things in life are free, aren't they?--it's time to post an image of a freeloader fly.
So here's the story: a praying mantis was polishing off the remains of a honey bee, and uninvited dinner guests--freeloader flies (family Milichiidae, probably genus Desmometopa)--showed up. This genus includes more than 50 described species, according to Wikipedia.
Another time, a spider snagged a honey bee, and freeloaders arrived just in time to chow down. "Call me anything you like but don't call me late to dinner." They bring nothing to contribute to the meal except their appetites.
So did the predators chase away the freeloader flies? No. Absolutely not. Apparently they're too tiny a morsel to eat, and the freeloaders don't eat much. (See BugGuide.net's images of them.
Happy Friday Fly Day!
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
On Labor Day, a federal holiday, we celebrate the our country's labor movement, our gratitude, and our achievements.
But there is no Labor Day holiday for the worker bee, one of three castes (queen, worker and drone) in a honey bee colony. No Labor Day holiday for the queen, either. In peak season, she will lay from 1000 to 2000 eggs a day. A laborious task, to be sure.
Most will be worker bees, the most needed of the three castes. Worker bees perform such age-related duties as nurse maids, nannies, royal attendants, builders, architects, foragers, dancers, honey tenders, pollen packers, propolis or "glue" specialists, air conditioning and heating technicians, guards, and undertakers. The worker bees (sterile females) run the hive. They're the "you-go" girls, the "you-got-this" girls and the "go-to" girls.
No "atta boys" here. The boys, or drones, have one job to do: mate with a virgin queen (in flight) and then they die. (Or as the late Eric Mussen, UC Extension apiculturist emeritus and a longtime member of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology faculty, would add "They die with a smile on their face.")
It's a matriarchal society.
But life is short for the foraging worker bees.
"Worker bees live for approximately five to six weeks in the spring and summer," writes author and retired bee scientist and bee wrangler Norman Gary, emeritus professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis, in his book, Honey Bee Hobbyist: The Care and Keeping of Bees.
"Those reared in the fall live for several months--long enough for the colony to survive the winter--and are replaced by young bees in late winter or early spring," says Gary, whose entire apicultural career spans 75 years, from student to retirement 26 years ago. (He still works with bees.)
For the foragers, collecting nectar and pollen can be dangerous. Their searching expeditions and forays can take them four to five miles from their hive. Due to predators (including birds, praying mantids and spiders), pesticides and other issues, many do not return home at night.
They put the "severe" in persevere.
What's not to admire about the honey bee? All hail Apis mellifera, not just on Labor Day, but every day of the year. You go, girls! You got this!
(Editor's Note: Interested in becoming a beekeeper or learning more about beekeeping? Be sure to check out the UC Davis-based California Master Beekeeper Program, directed by Extension apiculturist Elina Lastro Niño of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.)