- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Leal and Simmons, the "twin brothers," co-chaired the 2016 International Congress of Entomology conference, “Entomology Without Borders,” held in Orlando, Florida, that drew nearly 7000 attendees from 101 countries. It was the largest gathering of entomologists in the history of insect science.
"Honorary Member" is the highest award offered by the 7000-member ESA. The recipients must have "served ESA for at least 20 years through significant involvement in the affairs of the society that has reached an extraordinary level,” ESA officials said in announcing the three recipients today (Aug. 24). “Candidates for this honor are selected by the ESA Governing Board and then voted on by the ESA membership.”
Keena's UC Davis connections: she received three UC Davis degrees in entomology: her bachelor's degree in 1983; her master's in 1985, and her doctorate in 1988. (See her website.)
The trio will be recognized during the 2022 Joint Annual Meeting of the Entomological Societies of America, Canada, and British Columbia, Nov. 13-16, in Vancouver.
Leal is the sixth UC Davis faculty member to be named an Honorary Member of ESA. UC Davis distinguished professor Frank Zalom of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and the 2014 president of ESA, achieved the honor in 2021. Professor W. Harry Lange (1912-2004) received the award in 1990; Professor Donald MacLean (1928-2014), the 1984 ESA president, won the award in 1993; Professor Bruce Eldridge in 1996, and Professor John Edman in 2001.
Leal, an expert in insect communication, investigates how insects detect odors, connect and communicate within their species; and detect host and non-host plant matter. His research, spanning three decades, targets insects that carry mosquito-borne diseases as well as agricultural pests that damage and destroy crops. He and his lab drew international attention with their discovery of the mode of action of DEET, the gold standard of insect repellents.
Leal was recently elected chair of the International Congress of Entomology Council, which selects a country to host the congress every four years and which supports the continuity of the international congresses of entomology. Leal succeeds prominent entomologist May Berenbaum of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, editor-in-chief of the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and a 2014 recipient of the National Medal of Science.
“I have big shoes to fill,” he said. (See news story)
As a leading global scientist and inventor in the field of insect olfaction and communication, Leal was named a 2019 Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) for his impact in the fields of molecular, cellular biology, and entomology.
Highly honored by his peers, Leal is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society (2015) and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2005), ESA (2009), and California Academy of Sciences (2015). He received both the Medal of Achievement (1995) and the Medal of Science (2008) from the Entomological Society of Brazil and the 1998 Gakkaisho from the Japanese Society of Applied Entomology and Zoology. In 2019, ESA selected him to deliver the Founders' Memorial Lecture on "Tom Eisner: An Incorrigible Entomophile and Innovator Par Excellence."
The International Society of Chemical Ecology honored him with its Silverstein-Simeone Award (2007) and the Silver Medal (2012). In 2012, Leal was elected to the Brazilian Academy of Science (inducted in 2013). For his creativity in entomology, Leal received ESA's Nan Yao Su Award (2011) and was elected a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (2019). The UC Davis Academic Senate awarded him both the Distinguished Teaching Award (2020) and the Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Award (2022).
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's not "officially" spring until we see--and photograph--the spectacular Western tiger swallowtail, Papilio rutulus.
That's what I posted April 2, 2021 on Bug Squad after seeing one land March 30 on a white lilac bush in a Vacaville park. It lingered long enough for a few photos and then fluttered away.
This butterfly's wings are a brilliant yellow with black stripes. Blue and orange spots accent the "tails" on its hindwings.
Fast forward to today: The Entomological Society of America (ESA) has before its members, a proposal to add the common name, "Western Tiger Swallowtail,” to the scientific name, Papilio rutulus.
Most of us have not called it anything else. Oh, wait, there was "That Big Yellow Gorgeous Butterfly" and "Ol' Yeller" and "Sunshine Butterfly."
The ESA-approved name, if the members agree, would be "Western tiger swallowtail." Yes!
Presently there are 10 species within the family Papilionidae that have common names established by ESA. None describe species that are primarily found west of the Mississippi.
"Western" reflects its broad distribution over the western United States, as ESA says. "It is the most abundant of the 'tiger swallowtails' in this part of the U.S., paralleling the distribution of Papilio glaucus (tiger swallowtail/'eastern tiger swallowtail') which is the most abundant species in the eastern United States."
Also up for discussion and approval are these proposals for common names:
- "Two-tailed swallowtail" for Papilio multicaudata
- "Eastern tiger swallowtail" for Papilio glaucus
- "Pale swallowtail" for Papilio eurymedon
See the ESA database of common names, which includes more than 2,000 common names of insects and is searchable by common name, scientific name, author, order, family, genus, and species.
Butterfly guru Art Shapiro, UC Davis distinguished professor of evolution and ecology who maintains a research site, Art's Butterfly World," monitoring the butterfly populations in Central California since 1972, has always called Papilio rutulus by the common name of Western tiger swallowtail. But mostly he calls it Papilio rutulus. He writes on his website:
"The Western Tiger Swallowtail is basically a species of riparian forest, where it glides majestically back and forth along the watercourse. It has expanded into older urban neighborhoods where several of its host genera are grown as shade trees, and behaves as if the street were a watercourse. In the high country and on the Sierran east slope its usual host is Aspen."
"One brood (June-July) at higher elevations; one and a partial second at Washington; 2-3 at lower elevations with a long flight season (late February or March-September or October). An avid puddler. Visits Yerba Santa, California Buckeye, Milkweed, Dogbane, Lilies, Coyotemint, etc., etc. and in gardens frequent at Lilac and Buddleia. Spring individuals are smaller and usually paler than summer. Low-elevation hosts include Sycamore (Platanus), Ash (Fraxinus), Cherry and other stone fruits (Prunus), Willow (Salix), Privet (Ligustrum), Lilac (Syringa) and (in Sacramento County) Sweet Gum (Liquidambar)."
Have you seen any Papilio rutulus this year? Or the Western tiger swallowtail? Or "That Big Yellow Gorgeous Butterfly?"
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
If you love numerical palindromes, Kimsey's birthday last year fell on 2-1-21, and Bohart associate Greg Kareofelas' birthday this year fell on 2-2-22. (Note February's next numerical paiindrome is 2-22-22.)
This year the Bohart Museum, home of a worldwide collection of eight million insect specimens, is celebrating its 75th year. Let's just say that Kimsey is younger than that.
So, a quick update with Professor Kimsey:
Q. "What fascinates you about insects?"
A. "All the incredibly weird things they do. Every year I learn something head-slappingly new!"
Q. "What do you want the public to know the most about insects?"
A. "That insects are mostly harmless and really important parts of our lives as well as other animals and plants."
Q. "What's your next project?"
A. "Right now I'm working on two book projects: the Mosquitoes of California and Keys to the Insects of California."
Q. "What insect has the longest life span?"
A. "Depends on how you define it. Desert insects can stay in diapause for up to 10 years or more. Jerry Powell at UC Berkeley discovered that the yucca moth can remain in the pupa for several decades before emerging when it rains. As for adult insects, probably stink beetles live the longest here."
Professor Kimsey is an alumnus of UC Davis. She received her undergraduate degree in 1975 and her doctorate in 1979. Richard M. Bohart, for whom the insect museum is named, served as her major professor and she was his last graduate student.
Kimsey joined the UC Davis entomology faculty in 1989. Her areas of expertise include insect biodiversity, systematics and biogeography of parasitic wasps, urban entomology, civil forensic entomology, and arthropod-related industrial hygiene. She is a recognized global authority on the systematics, biogeography and biology of the wasp families, Tiphiidae and Chrysididae.
Kimsey has served in numerous leadership roles at the international, national and local level, including two terms as president of the International Hymenopterists, board member of the Natural Science Collections Alliance, and interim chair and vice chair (twice) of the UC Davis Department of Entomology (now the Department of Entomology and Nematology).
In 2020, the Pacific Branch, Entomological Society of America (PBESA), presented her with its highest honor, the C. W. Woodworth Award. She earlier received two other PBESA awards: the Systematics, Evolution and Biodiversity Award in 2014, and shared the Team Award in 2013 with colleagues Eric Mussen, Robbin Thorp, Neal Williams and Brian Johnson, who were recognized for their collaborative work specializing in honey bees, wild bees and pollination issues through research, education and outreach.
Known for her decades of public service, Kimsey received the UC Davis Academic Senate Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Award in 2016.
The Bohart Museum is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. In addition to its eight million insect specimens, it houses a live "petting zoo" (think Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insects and tarantulas) and a gift shop (now online), stocked with insect-themed gifts such as books, posters, jewelry, t-shirts and hoodies.
Questions? Will the 75th anniversary celebration of the Bohart Museum continue this year? When will the Bohart Museum be open to the public and when will it begin hosting its ever-popular open houses? To be determined, but spoiler alert: One event will involve the California dogface butterfly, Zerene eurydice, the state insect. This is the 50th anniversary of when the State Legislature named the butterfly the state insect. Stay tuned.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Back in May of 2005, entomologist Fran Keller, a professor at Folsom Lake College and a UC Davis doctoral alumnus, interviewed E. O. Wilson for a presentation at the 2005 Entomological Society of America meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
This week remembrances are pouring in for Wilson, the legendary Harvard emeritus professor, biologist, naturalist and author who died Dec. 26 at age 92 in Burlington, Mass. (See UC Davis tributes on the Department of Entomology and Nematology website.)
Recognized as one of the world's most influential scientists, Wilson was known as “The Ant Man,” "The Father of Sociobiology," "The Father of Diversity" and “The Modern-Day Darwin," for his pioneering and trailblazing work that drew global admiration and won scores of scientific awards.
But among his peers, colleagues and mentees, he was known as "Ed."
"Our department of entomology helped fund my trip to Harvard,” Keller recalled, “and he agreed to meet me over the course of two days in May 2005. The ESA symposium took place in mid-December. I recorded our interview on a cassette tape,” she said, adding she hopes to publish it in a journal.
“We walked around the MCZ (Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology) for a bit together, talking about species discovery, biodiversity and extinction,” she recalled. “We stopped at the display of birds and the ivory-billed woodpecker. We stopped at Darwin's finches on display. We went into the room where the rhinos were displayed and as we stared together at the rhinos, silent, I couldn't help myself and I began to cry. I apologized for my emotional display and said ‘It just makes me horribly sad that I may never get to see this animal in the wild, that it may be lost forever. I'm an entomologist, I don't know why this rhino makes me so sad. I didn't cry in front of the ivory-billed woodpecker.”
“After my interview with Ed, I bought the book in the MCZ, The Rarest of the Rare: Stories Behind the Treasues at the Harvard Museum of Natural History. In that book, it highlights the extinct and rare species held in the MCZ collections. One of those specimens is the last Xerces butterfly, which was caught by Harry Lange (UC Davis emeritus professor of entomology). Harry's quote in that book, ‘I didn't know it was the last one, I thought there would be more' and then my time eating lunch and then wandering the MCZ collection and chatting with Ed inspired me to create the Xerces t-shirt for the Bohart Museum of Entomology.”
One of Keller's mentors, Tom Schoener, studied with Wilson. “I worked on plant ecology and island biogeography for my undergrad research (Sacramento City College)," she said, "and continued that for awhile in grad school (UC Davis). Ed Wilson was one of the founders of island biogeography.” And, as a undergraduate at Sacramento City College, Keller was part of a field trip to hear Wilson speak at his 2002 book tour on The Future of Life.
Wilson's work, On Human Nature, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1979. He won a second Pulitzer in 1991 with The Ants, co-authored with colleague Bert Hölldobler. In 1990, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded Wilson the Crafoord Prize in biosciences, the highest scientific award in the field. In 1996, Time magazine named him one of America's 25 most influential people. In 1977 President Jimmy Carter awarded him the National Medal of Science for his contributions toward the advancement of knowledge in biology.
Wilson, according to reports, always considered himself an Alabaman who went to Harvard, rather than a Harvard professor born in Alabama. Born June 10, 1929 in Birmingham, Ed graduated from the University of Alabama in 1949 with two degrees in biology, and received his doctorate in biology from Harvard in 1955. He joined the Harvard faculty in 1956. Although officially retiring in 1996, he remained active as an emeritus professor and honorary curator until his death.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
His work shows a cuckoo bee (Nomada sp.) and an Anthophora bee sharing honey on a twig. The image appears as an inset for the month of September.
Wright collected the bees at his field site in Hemet Calif., the day before. "I took them to my studio to try and get some images in flight and to bolster my files of native bee species," he related. "I often feed my subjects a little honey as I photograph them over the course of a day or two before releasing them back where I found them. They also tend to offer nice shots when they sit still drinking, so I figured I would try to fit two bees on a twig that I had around, and see if they would offer a picture."
"I managed a number of nice shots of them sharing a drink before letting them go their separate ways. Once spring starts back up in full, I'm hoping to recreate this shot with a half-dozen or more native bee species all on the same branch at the same time to show off the incredible diversity of native bees in California."
"I was so thrilled to have my image accepted to the ESA calendar, which always showcases incredible arthropod images!"
This is his first image selected for the international calendar, although he's submitted a few images over the last several years. He was also honored to have one of his arthropod images selected for the cover of the fall edition of the American Entomologist.
Wright, who holds a bachelor's degree in evolution, ecology and biodiversity from UC Davis in 2008 and a master's degree in evolution, ecology and behavior at the University of Texas, Austin, in 2015, began pursuing photography as a hobby in 2008, using a single lens reflex camera. Today he specializes in macro and wildlife photography but also enjoys "photographing people and, especially, the intersection of people and science."
Wright's hobby has grown into "a passion for documenting the species and behaviors I find during field work or on my many expeditions to observe species and their habitats around the country and the globe."
You can follow Ian Wright on the Internet:
- Website: https://ianmwright.zenfolio.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ian.wright.549
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ianmwright86
- Instagram: @ianmwright86 and @tinyspheres
The World of Insects Calendar is known for its striking, world-class photography of arthropods. The 2022 calendar drew more than 740 entries from more than 180 photographers from around the globe. The cover image depicts newly hatched brown marmorated stink bug nymphs (Halyomorpha halys), photographed by Tom Astle of Sherman Oaks, Calif.
ESA seeks photos of "the highest aesthetic and technical quality," and issues a call for photos early in the year for the following year's calendar. Photographers of all backgrounds, areas of expertise, career stage, and geographic location submit photos.
This year ESA also published an "Arthropod Photo of the Week" from the submitted photos. (Follow "Arthropod Photo of the Week" via the #arthropodPOTW hashtag on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.)
ESA, founded in 1889, serves the professional and scientific needs of entomologists and individuals in related disciplines throughout the world. Its 7000 members are affiliated with educational institutions, health agencies, private industry, and government. They include teachers, extension service personnel, administrators, marketing representatives, research technicians, consultants, students, pest management professionals, and hobbyists.
The general public can order the 2022 calendar online by accessing this link. The cost per calendar is $10 for ESA members and $14 or non-members, with decreased costs for multiple orders.