Lady beetles, aka ladybugs, gobble up aphids like kids gobble up popcorn and we all cheer loudly. 

Take that, you aphids! That'll teach you to suck the lifeblood out of my plants!

"Aphids are small, soft-bodied insects with long slender mouthparts that they use to pierce stems, leaves, and other tender plant parts and suck out fluids," according to the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management website on how to manage aphids. "Almost every plant has one or more aphid species that occasionally feed on it."

Aphids are major agricultural and garden pests. What's it like to be an aphid? How much stress can they handle?

Enter postdoctoral scholar Jessica Kansman of the Department of Entomology, Pennsylvania State University. She's the next speaker in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology's winter seminar series. She'll speak on "To Be an Aphid in a Cruel World: How Abiotic and Biotic Stressors Influence Plant-Insect Interactions" from 4:10 to 5 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 24. To register and attend the Zoom seminar, access this Google form link.

"Whether it is combating the ever-changing host-plant conditions, or keeping careful watch for hungry predators and parasites--aphids have a stressful experience," Kansman says in her abstract. "My research has focused on figuring out just how much stress aphids can handle. Specifically, how plant water stress influences aphids and their natural enemies, and whether predator odors are as stressful for aphids as the predators themselves."

On her website, she says: "I am broadly interested in plant-insect interactions, abiotic/biotic stress interactions, insect ecology, and multi-trophic interactions. I am passionate about science communication, science policy, and inspiring a love of insects in children, in the college classroom, and with just about anyone I come across."

Kansman holds a bachelor's degree in entomology (2015) from Michigan State University, East Lansing, and a doctorate in plant, insect and microbial sciences (2020) from the University of Missouri, studying with Deborah Finke. As a doctoral student, she received a $116,859 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture "to study the effect of drought on aphid performance and behavior, indirect effects of drought on natural enemies, and how these effects cascade up to influence insect communities."  The Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) of USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) awarded the grant.

Kansman has given such presentations as "Plants vs. Insects: A Tale of Spines, Spit and Assassins." In one YouTube video on "Decoding Science," she describes aphids as "devastating agricultural pests. They feed by piercing a needlelike mouthpart into the plant tissue and they use it as a straw to suck up the sap of the plant." Aphids stunt growth and transmit viruses.  

Cooperative Extension specialist Ian Grettenberg is the seminar host and coordinates the seminars. For technical issues, he may be reached at imgrettenberger@udavis.edu.

For a list of Department of Entomology and Nematology seminars, click here. 

The volunteers--faculty, staff and students--who are presenting science-based information during the UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Month are doing an amazing job.

As you may remember, over the last nine years, this event was a single day, the Saturday of Presidents' Day weekend when friends, families and future scientists eagerly gathered on campus to see museums and collections and confer with the scientists. This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it's a entire month of Zoom and YouTube presentations and other online activities.

It's free, and has always been free. The organizers want to keep it that way.

Now they need your help. Through the UC Davis crowdsourcing program, which ends Feb. 28, they are asking for donations to keep this science-based event alive and  thriving.  Please click here to donate. 

The Biodiversity Museum Month features 12 UC Davis museums and collections:

• Anthropology Museum
• Arboretum and Public Garden
• Bohart Museum of Entomology
• Botanical Conservatory
• California Raptor Center
• Center for Plant Diversity
• Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven
• Nematode Collection
• Marine Invertebrate Collection 
• Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology
• Paleontology Collection
• Phaff Yeast Culture Collection
• Viticulture and Enology Collection (not participating this year but they have in the past)

Using their science communication skills, the volunteers have created dozens of videos and associated educational activities.  See the schedule for live talks and demonstrations and pre-recorded talks and activities. "The goal of these educational resources is to reach new audiences and to connect people from all walks of life to science and the biodiversity surrounding them," said event coordinator Tabatha Yang, who is the Bohart Museum's education and outreach coordinator. 

 "Creating these resources and helping to plan for a future in-person event will solidify our students' science communication skills--skills that are crucial in this day and age," Yang said. "Your support will enable our diverse group of students to have a meaningful and lasting impact as science communicators for Biodiversity Museum Day. Donations will not only help us sustain the free, in-person event, but it will also enable our student interns to take science outreach to a whole new level."

Take, for example, the Bohart Museum, temporarily closed but located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane. It's the home of nearly eight million insect specimens, plus a live "petting zoo" (think Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insects and tarantulas) and a year-around, online gift shop stocked with such insect-themed items as t-shirts, jewelry, posters and books. 

The Bohart Museum is all about "understanding, documenting and communicating terrestrial arthropod diversity." Access its website at http://bohart.ucdavis.edu/ and you'll find insect/arthropod fact sheets, and information on how to collect insects, special collections, and the tardigrade (water bear) collections  and much more. A landmark water bear sculpture, the work of artist Solomon Basshoff, now graces the entrance to the Bohart. 

The Bohart collections draw huge, inquisitive crowds during the open houses, and rightfully so. Specimens include the Xerces blue butterfly, Glaucopsyche xerces, now extinct. 

"Think about collections this way--they are snapshots in time and spaces," says Professor Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum and a former chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. "They tell you where the environment has been and where it's going. A way to visualize change over time."

Well said. Now let's ensure that the UC Davis Biodiversity Museum program stays alive, thrives and remains free to the public. To donate, just access by Feb. 28 this site: https://crowdfund.ucdavis.edu/project/24310

Talk about diverse.

The bee world exemplifies diversity and the UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Month, being celebrated throughout the month of February, wouldn't exemplify diversity without them. 

One of the pre-recorded presentations just uploaded on the Biodiversity Museum site deals with bees in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology's bee garden, the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven on Bee Biology Road, west of the central campus. 

The presentation, by bee garden manager Christine Casey, is an introduction to common bees found in urban gardens of Central California.

Many people are unaware that there are some 20,000 species of bees worldwide. Of that number, 4000 species are found in North America and 1600 species in California. 

The late Robbin Thorp (1933-2019), UC Davis distinguished emeritus professor of entomology, was the go-to person to identify bees, and we all miss him. Thorp, a member of the UC Davis entomology faculty for 30 years, from 1964-1994, achieved emeritus status in 1994 but continued to engage in research, teaching and public service until a few weeks before his death at age 85. A tireless advocate of pollinator species protection and conservation, Thorp was known for his expertise, dedication and passion in protecting native pollinators, especially bumble bees, and for his teaching, research and public service. He was an authority on pollination ecology, ecology and systematics of honey bees, bumble bees, vernal pool bees, conservation of bees, native bees and crop pollination, and bees of urban gardens and agricultural landscapes.

In his retirement, Thorp co-authored two books Bumble Bees of North America: An Identification Guide (Princeton University, 2014) and California Bees and Blooms: A Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists (Heyday, 2014). Locally, he was active in research projects and open houses at the Bohart Museum of Entomology and the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven. In his research, he monitored bees in the half-acre haven, establishing a baseline in 2008, a year before the garden was installed.  He eventually detected more than 80 species of bees in the garden. 

Casey's presentation, billed as "Bees 101," documents some of the bees found in the garden, with colorful photos by the talented Allan Jones of Davis. Access the presentation at https://youtu.be/5KLrTIclx2A. Casey also will be delivering a live talk, with questions and answers, from 12:15 to 12:45 on Tuesday, Feb. 23. Click here to obtain the Zoom link.

Other UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Month live talks and demonstrations will range from Asian giant hornets (1 to 2 p.m. Feb. 18 by Professor Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology) to ants (11 a.m., to noon, Feb. 20 by Professor Phil Ward) to a program on the Botanical Conservatory (1 to 2 p.m., Feb. 24 by collections manager Ernesto Sandoval). To obtain the Zoom links, click here. The Botanical Conservatory presentation will be in Spanish. Sandoval earlier presented the program in English.

Note: If you'd like to donate to the UC Davis Diversity Museum Program in its crowdfunding efforts--this year is the 10th annual--click here. To donate to the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, click here. To donate to the California Master Beekeeper Program, directed by Extension apiculturist Elina Lastro Niño of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, click here. Niño also serves as the director of the haven.

Let's put the "bee" in bee-cause.

Meanwhile, as anyone who's been around bees knows, bees are not only absolutely fascinating, but thoroughly riveting. 

Want to learn about "murder hornets?"

Entomologists cringe every time someone substitutes the moniker, "murder hornet," for the Asian giant hornet, Vespa mandarinia.

They probably think this qualifies as murder in the first degree!

No, no, no! Don't call it a "murder hornet!" 

A single colony of the Asian giant hornet was found and destroyed Sept. 18, 2019 in Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, Canada, and a single dead hornet was found Dec. 8, 2019 in nearby Blaine, Wash. Since then, it also has been sighted-- and destroyed--in both Canada and Washington state. 

"In 2020, both Washington and Canada have had new confirmed sightings of Asian giant hornet and in October of 2020, WSDA conducted the first-ever eradication of an Asian giant hornet nest in the United States,"  according to the Washington State Department of Agriculture site.

"Asian giant hornet attacks and destroys honey bee hives. A few hornets can destroy a hive in a matter of hours. The hornets enter a 'slaughter phase' where they kill bees by decapitating them. They then defend the hive as their own, taking the brood to feed their own young. They also attack other insects but are not known to destroy entire populations of those insects."

"While they do not generally attack people or pets, they can attack when threatened. Their stinger is longer than that of a honey bee and their venom is more toxic. They can also sting repeatedly."

"If it becomes established, this hornet will have negative impacts on the environment, economy, and public health of Washington State."

Globally recognized hymenopterist Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and UC Davis professor of entomology, will deliver an hourlong presentation from 1 to 2 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 18 as part of the UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Month program. She also will field questions. To access the program, link to   https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/95724669897.

Kimsey, a two-term past president of the International Society of Hymenopterists, shed some light on the giant insect in an interview with urban entomologist Michael Bentley on his BugBytes podcast. Click here to listen.

They talked about the history of the hornet, its biology, its range, its behavior, its stings, and the news media frenzy.

The Asian giant hornet is "one of about a dozen or so species in this genus," Kimsey said. She described them as "comically large and menacing looking."

The specimens in the Bohart Museum of Entomology are about 1.5 inches long. "I've never seen one two inches long. But it's a big animal--no question about it." 

Kimsey agreed that the Asian giant hornet "can deliver a lot of venom" and "can sting repeatedly." But in her opinion, "the honey bee sting is the worst."

Other points Kimsey brought out included:

• The Asian giant hornets probably arrived here in cargo ships
• The larvae and pupae are restaurant-fare in some parts of Asia and are quite the delicacy
• The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in fewer cargo ships arriving in the United States from Asia, and thus fewer opportunities for hitchhikers.

Kimsey and two other wasp experts published “The Diversity of Hornets in the Genus Vespa (Hymenoptera: Vespidae; Vespinae); Their Importance and Interceptions in the United States,” in the journal Insect Systematics and Diversity last summer. Lead author Allan Smith-Pardo, U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), and co-authors James Carpenter of the American Museum of Natural History's Division of Invertebrate Zoology, and Kimsey covered 22 species of hornets, including V. mandarinia.

Vespa species are “primarily predators of other insects, and some species are known to attack and feed on honey bees (Apis mellifera), which makes them a serious threat to apiculture,” the authors wrote in their abstract.

Be sure to watch the UC Davis program Thursday.

Said Kimsey: "l will focus on the biology of common pest paper wasps, like western yellowjacket, European paper wasp and the bald-faced hornet and of course, true hornets and whether they're a threat to California."