- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's Friday Fly Day, and time to post an image of a fly that masquerades as a bee.
That would be "the bee fly," a fly so named because it resembles a bee
Order: Diptera. Family: Bombyliidae.
In its adult stage, it's a pollinator that feeds on nectar and pollen. In its larval stage, it's parasitoid. The adult bee fly lays her eggs in the nests of wasps, beetles or solitary bees and the developing larvae eat their host.
"The Bombyliidae include at least 4,500 described species, and certainly thousands more remain to be described," Wikipedia tells us. "However, most species do not often appear in abundance, and compared to other major groups of pollinators they are much less likely to visit flowering plants in urban parks or suburban gardens. As a result, this is arguably one of the most poorly known families of insects relative to its species richness. The family has a patchy fossil record, with species being known from a handful of localities the oldest known species are known from the Middle Cretaceous Burmese amber, around 99 million years old."
Bee flies have also acquired the nickname of "bomber flies." That because when the adult female is ready to "gift" a host with her eggs, she hovers over the burrow in mid-air and flicks her eggs.
Aren't insects amazing?
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The more pertinent question, scientists say, is "Do you UNDERSTAND climate change?"
Wikipedia defines climate change this way: "In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to Earth's climate. The current rise in global average temperatureis primarily caused by humans burning fossil fuels since the Industrial Revolution. Fossil fuel use, deforestation, and some agricultural and industrial practices add to greenhouse gases. These gases absorb some of the heat that the Earth radiates after it warms from sunlight, warming the lower atmosphere. Carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas driving global warming, has grown by about 50% and is at levels unseen for millions of years."
Enter Michael Hoffmann, an emeritus professor at Cornell University and the newest recipient of the Thomas and Nina Leigh Distinguished Alumni Award, sponsored by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
Hoffmann, a noted entomologist and climate change spokesperson, will deliver the Leigh seminar on "Our Changing Menu: Using the Power of Food to Confront Climate Change" on Monday, Oct. 14. The event, to be held in the Putah Creek Lodge, beginning at 4 p.m., will include a social, lecture and dinner. Reservations are closed but the seminar will be on Zoom at
https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/95882849672. It will then be archived on this page: https://entomology.ucdavis.edu/seminars
Hoffmann is the lead author of the book, Our Changing Menu: Climate Change and the Foods We Love and Need (Cornell Press 2021). He is known for his advocacy of climate change literacy, leadership activities and biological control projects.
Hoffmann says he is dedicating his life to "confronting the grand challenge of climate change by helping people understand and appreciate what is happening through the foods we all love and need." He has published climate-change articles in the popular press, including The Hill, Fortune, Medium, and USA Today. He also delivered a TEDX Talk, titled Climate Change: It's Time to Raise Our Voices," teaches an online eCornell course, Climate Change Leadership; and has presented more than 150 climate-change talks.
"I will tell the climate change story until I no longer can," Hoffmann says.
Hoffmann was selected the 2020 recipient of the Leigh Seminar Award, but the COVID pandemic intervened and other dates conflicted. He will be introduced by his longtime friend and colleague, UC Davis distinguished emeritus professor Frank Zalom of the Department of Entomology and Nematology.
Caring, Unselfish, Passionate. "Mike is one of the nicest people who I have ever known," said Zalom, who officially retired in 2018 but continues hisIPM research and outreach efforts as a recall professor in the Department of Entomology and Nematology. "He is caring, unselfish, and passionate in his support of issues that he believes in. He is devoted to his family, and has always been willing to commit his personal and professional time to making things better for others. He was committed to IPM as a graduate student at Davis and subsequently as a faculty member in entomology at Cornell. He not only conductedIPM research, but he put it into practice through personal interactions with diverse agricultural and urban communities in New York State."
Zalom, who directed the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management (UC IPM) Program for 16 years, noted that Hoffmann "assumed leadership of the New York State IPM Program, one of the very best IPM programs in the country, then applied his enthusiasm for sustainability to Cornell's Agricultural Experiment Station as its director where it is generally acknowledged that he created a ‘culture of sustainability.' "
"Mike is a big-picture-kind of person," Zalom said, "and has dedicated much of the latter half of his career to preparing communities for the effects of climate change by illustrating its effects through food. He has given hundreds of engaging presentations on climate change including a highly regarded TEDx talk."
Hoffmann was "the executive director of the Cornell Institute for Climate Change Solutions when he retired from Cornell in 2020, but remains active in presenting the story of what is happening and what can be done about it nationally and internationally," Zalom said. "I am proud to say that Mike remains one of my very closest friends, and it will be my honor to introduce him for his upcoming seminar where is will receive the Thomas and Nina Leigh Distinguished Alumni Award."
One-Cow Dairy Farm. A native of Wisconsin, Hoffmann grew up on "a one-cow dairy farm" and recalls milking a cow named "Mabel." After graduating from high school, he served in the U. S. Marines during the Vietnam War. He received his bachelor's degree in 1975 from the University of Wisconsin, master's degree in 1978 from the University of Arizona, and his doctorate in 1990 from UC Davis, where he studied with Professor Ted Wilson and later Zalom.
The Leigh seminar memorializes cotton entomologist Thomas Frances Leigh (1923-1993), an international authority on the biology, ecology and management of arthropod pests affecting cotton production. During his 37-year UC Davis career, Leigh was based at the Shafter Research and Extension Center, also known as the U.S. Cotton Research Station. When his wife, Nina, passed in 2002, the name of the alumni seminar changed to the Thomas and Nina Distinguished Alumni Award Seminar.
Nematologist Amanda Hodson, assistant professor, is coordinating the ENT seminars. The full list is here. For more information or for technical issues, contact Hodson at akhodson@ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's Arachtober and that means celebrating arachnids for the entire month of October.
Well, we ought to celebrate them year around, but October is THEIR month.
Let's especially applaud crab spiders when they prey on such agricultural pests as the lygus bug, also known as the "western tarnished plant bug." It's a member of the genus Lygus in the family Miridae and feeds on plants by piercing the plant tissues.
The lygus bug is easily distinguished by the triangular mark on its back.
The western tarnished plant bug (Lygus hesperus) is known as a very serious pest of cotton, strawberries and seed crops such as alfalfa, entomologists tell us. In California alone, the bug causes $30 million in damage to cotton plants each year, "and at least $40 million in losses to the state's strawberry industry," according to Wikipedia.
"Lygus bugs are one of the causes of irregularly shaped, cat-faced strawberries; another cause may be poor pollination, which results in small undeveloped seeds," says UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program (UC IPM) in its Pest Management Guidelines. "Lygus bugs damage fruit by puncturing individual seeds; this, in turn, stops development of the berry in the area surrounding the feeding site. Straw-colored seeds that are large and hollow are a good indication of lygus bug damage. Lygus bug damage is more of a problem in strawberry-growing areas where continuous fruit production occurs.
"Adults are about 0.25 inch (6 mm) long, oval, and rather flattened," UC IPM points out. "They are greenish or brownish and have reddish-brown markings on their wings."
So what happens when a crab spider nails a lygus bug?
The cheering section is loud.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Her Oct. 7th seminar was recorded. You can access it via Aggie Videos on the ENT website at https://entomology.ucdavis.edu/seminars. Here's the direct link.
Her topic: "Don't Compromise: Food Lipid Contest Shapes Protein-Lipid Regulation in Honey Bee (Apis melliera) Nurses," which she delivered in Room 122 of Briggs and also on Zoom.
Posada was introduced by apiculturist Elina Lastro Niño, associate professor of Cooperative Extension and founder and director of the California Master Beekeeper Program.
Posada began her talk by noting that one of the hot topics of honey bee research is nutrition. She went on to explain what bees need and the research her team is doing.
Her abstract: "Regulating nutrient intake is a fundamental and multidimensional challenge for all animals. Typically, animals prioritize macronutrient intake, and we know much about protein-carbohydrate regulation. In contrast, we know relatively little about protein-lipid regulation, especially among palynivores like bees that feed on food (pollen) that has high, but variable, protein and lipid content."
"Using a Geometric Framework or nutrition experimental approach, we show that nurse honey bees (Apis melliera) maximized their protein-lipid intake on diets that had a 3:2 protein:lipid ratio and that it was lowest on highly lipid-based diets. In choice experiments with nutritionally complementary diets, bees self-selected a protein-based diet. However, total consumption was suppressed when a lipid-biased food was present. Our collective results suggest bees actively regular the intake of both protein and lipid, but that lipid regulation is particularly strict. Our findings have implications for honey bee and palynivore ecology, and nutritional ecology more broadly."
All ENT seminars recorded will appear at https://entomology.ucdavis.edu/seminars. The first speaker in the fall series was Kyle Wickings of Cornell, who spoke Sept. 30 on "Composition and Function of Soil Invertebrate Communities in Residential Greenspaces." The direct link to his seminar is here.
The fall seminars begin Monday afternoon, Sept. 30 and will continue every Monday through Dec. 2.
Nematologist Amanda Hodson, assistant professor of soil ecology and pest management, is coordinating the seminars. All, except one, will be held in 122 Briggs Hall. All, but one (Nov. 18), will be on Zoom. The Zoom link:
https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/95882849672.
Here's the remaining schedule:
Monday, Oct. 14, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thomas and Nina Leigh Distinguished Alumni Award Seminar, Putah Creek Lodge
Michael Hoffmann
Professor Emeritus, Cornell University
Title: “Our Changing Menu: Using the Power of Food to Confront Climate Change”
This will take place beginning at 4 p.m. in the Putah Creek Lodge and will include a social, lecture and dinner. Reservations are closed, but his seminar will be recorded and archived. (See more)
Monday, Oct. 21, 4:10 to 5 p.m.,122 Briggs
Andrew Corbett
Research Affiliate, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology (formerly with the lab of UC Davis distinguished professor Jay Rosenheim, now emeritus)
Title: "In Silico Experiments with the Effect of Natural Habitats on Biological Control in Agricultural Landscapes."
Monday, Oct. 28, 4:10 to 5 p.m., 122 Briggs
Jolene Saldivar
UC Davis Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow, lab of Professor Louie Yang
Title: "Disturbance in Coastal Sage Scrub and the Implications for Migratory Butterflies”
Monday, Nov. 4, 4:10 to 5 p.m., 122 Briggs
Eliza Litsey (exit seminar)
Litsey, a former graduate student in the honey bee lab of Elina Niño, UC Davis Department of Entomology, received her master's degree in entomology in June 2024 and is now a laboratory technician at the lab of research entomologist Julia Fine, USDA/ARS, Davis. Litzey also holds a bachelor's degree from UC Davis.)
Monday, Nov. 18, 122 Briggs (in-person only; will not on Zoom)
Andre Custodio Franco
Assistant Professor, Indiana University Bloomington
Title: "Deciphering the Soil Macrobiome: Belowground Communities Driving Ecosystem Responses to Global Change”
Monday, Nov. 25, 4:10 to 5 p.m., 122 Briggs
Christine Sprunger
Associate Professor of Soil Health at Michigan State University
Title: "Nematodes as Bioindicators of Soil Health and Climate Resiliency”
Monday, Dec. 2, 4:10 to 5 p.m., 122 Briggs
Inga Zasada
Research Plant Pathologist, USDA-ARS
Title: "How an Applied Nematolgist Uses Genomic Tools to Address Plant-Parasitic Nematode Research”
For more information contact Hodson at akhodson@ucdavis.edu
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
What an incredible story!
It all began with insects and an entomology graduate student's curiosity of how caterpillars turn into butterflies.
Bruce Hammock, now a UC Davis distinguished professor who holds a joint appointment with the Department of Entomology and Nematology and the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, remembers studying juvenile hormones in the UC Berkeley lab of John Casida back in the 1970s.
He and fellow graduate student Sarjeet Gill, now a UC Riverside distinguished professor emeritus, co-discovered that a key enzyme in the metamorphosis degrades a caterpillar's juvenile hormone, allowing it to move from the larval stage into an adult insect.
So, for the past 50 years, Hammock has been researching inhibitors of soluble epoxide hydrolase or sEH. Those inhibitors alleviate chronic pain and inflammation in experimental animals. That research has led to experimental drugs that target such diseases as diabetes, hypertension (heart disease), Alzheimer's disease, and cancer.
Hammock's curiosity may lead to this: patients suffering from chronic pain and inflammation may be able to take a non-narcotic to alleviate that pain.
Flashback to 2011: Hammock and UC Davis alumna and pharmacologist-toxicologist Cindy McReynolds co-founded EicOsis (pronounced eye-co-sis) in 2011.The Davis-based company recently completed testing a drug candidate in Phase 1 human clinical trials with their lead candidate EC5026 that inhibits sEH. “Inhibiting sEH increases the levels of naturally occurring inflammation resolving and pain-relieving compounds,” Hammock said. “The clinical trial showed no side effects.”
Fast Forward to Today: The company, EicOsis has been named one of Pepperdine Graziadio Business School's 2024 Most Fundable Companies. EicOsis s one of 18 recipients from a competitive pool of more than 2000 U.S. startups and notable in being a pharmacology company. The seventh annual list features companies from diverse sectors, including FinTech, AgTech, Healthcare, Industrial Automation, Consumer Packaged Goods, and Advanced Materials.
“At EicOsis, our mission is to develop new effective and safe oral medicines to help people suffering from pain and inflammation,” said McReynolds. “We are committed to improving the lives of those suffering from pain, helping them feel themselves again.”
EicOsis derives its name from eicosanoid, “the major backbone of chemical mediators in the arachidonate cascade,” said McReynolds. “It symbolizes the epoxide group in chemistry, which is key to the anti-inflammatory chemical mediators and where the biochemical target called soluble epoxide hydrolase works.”
“Chronic pain affects 100 million Americans alone, and the increased prescription of opioids has led to a widespread public health emergency, the U.S. Opioid Crisis,” Hammock said. “Our company seeks to meet the unmet need for safe, non-addictive and effective pain medications that can help pain patients and fight the opioid crisis.”
In the United States alone, more than 81,000 people died of opioid overdose deaths in 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and more than 2.1 million people are addicted. The Helping to End Addiction Long-term Initiative, or NIH HEAL Initiative reports that the opioid epidemic In the 1990s, was "fueled by widespread overprescribing of opioids for pain management. This situation has led to significant reductions in appropriate opioid prescribing for pain at a time when safer and effective pain management strategies are not available to millions of Americans who live with pain.”
EicOsis won the “Sacramento Region Innovator of the Year” in 2019 in the medical health/biopharmaceutical category.
Long and Productive Road. It's been a long but productive road for Hammock, born in Little Rock, Ark., in 1947. Hammock earned a bachelor's degree in entomology magna cum laude, with minors in zoology and chemistry from Louisiana State University in 1969, and his doctorate in entomology/toxicology from UC Berkeley in 1973. A postdoctoral fellowship in biochemistry followed at the Rockefeller Foundation, Department of Biology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill.
He also served active duty as a medical officer with U.S. Army Academy of Health Sciences, San Antonio, where he witnessed the depths of acute and chronic pain.
"The frustration of seeing the effects of terrible pain coupled with the inability to effectively treat it has led me on a life-long quest to address pain and related illnesses,” said Hammock. “The study of this enzyme and the natural mediators it regulates has the added benefit of providing deeper understanding of diseases from heart failure to Alzheimer's which in turn is leading to new treatments.”
Since joining the UC Davis faculty in 1980, Hammock has taught a variety of subjects through the years, including biochemistry, endocrinology, toxicology, and pharmaceutical discovery and developmental biology.
As Wikipedia says: "Dr. Hammock continually moves between fundamental research and its application. Amongst his many research endeavors, he found a key hydrolytic enzyme that controlled insect metamorphosis and exploited this by developing transition state inhibitors that altered insect development. Then he used this hydrolytic enzyme in a transgenic viral insecticide. He found another hydrolytic enzyme important in insect development that also controlled key biological functions in mammals. His laboratory developed transition state inhibitors of this enzyme as well, which are used in human clinical trials where they reduce pain and inflammation. In addition, his lab pioneered immunoassay techniques for analyzing both humans and environmental exposure to pesticides and other contaminants. He continues as an internationally recognized figure in these fields for over five decades and has published over 1300 papers."
Highly honored by his peers, Hammock is a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, which honors academic invention and encourages translations of inventions to benefit society. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, a fellow of the Entomological Society of America, and the recipient of the Bernard B. Brodie Award in Drug Metabolism, sponsored by the America Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. He directed the campuswide NIEHS Superfund Research Program, National Institutes of Health Biotechnology Training Program for almost 40 years and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Combined Analytical Laboratory.
Cindy McReynolds. “As co-founder, Cindy has played a key role building EicOsis into a leader in therapeutics targeting sEH,” Hammock said in a UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology article. "Cindy's scientific insight, drive, and commitment ideally positions her to take EicOsis to the next level and builds on the vast body of science validating our approach. I know Cindy will continue to deliver great results for EicOsis and for a great many patients."
McReynolds received a bachelor's degree (1999) in animal science from UC Davis and a master's degree (2001) in animal science from Washington State University (WSU). Her career advanced from senior research associate, Celera (formerly Axys) in South San Francisco to senior associate scientist of Miikana, Fremont, to project coordinator of Arete Therapeutics, South San Francisco, to UC Davis researcher and EicOsis CEO.
At UC Davis, she served as the scientific program manager (2010-2017) for the Center for Integrative Toxicology, and as a graduate student researcher. She won a UC Davis Staff Assembly Citation of Excellence in Research in 2021. She earlier received the UC Davis 1999 Outstanding Senior Award, and several awards from WSU: the 2000 Dr. Erb Outstanding Graduate Student Award; the 2001 Teaching Assistant of the Year, and the 2001 Outstanding Graduate Student. While a graduate student, she was supported by a National Institutes of Health Chemical Biology Training Grant.