- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Today's Honorary Bee Image Award goes to...drum roll...an image of a humble hoverfly appearing on the National Geographic Facebook page.
The caption reads "A bee sits on a marigold flower in Coronado National Forest, Arizona, USA."
Bee? Umm, no!
Marigold? Umm, no!
Sits? A bee does what?
Hey, hoverfly, you're an honorary bee!
Indeed, why can't the hoverfly, aka syrphid fly or flower fly, gain a little stature?
As of 3 p.m. today, this mistaken-identity image has drawn 2,400 views, 66 comments and 136 shares from National Geographic's 50 million FB followers.
It's a beautiful insect image by freelance photographer David Littschwacher. Who wrote the caption? Not an entomologist. Ironically, however, numerous National Geographic followers are unaware of the faux paux. A sprinkling of the comments:
- "Beautiful picture"
- "Very nice photo; spring brings lots of flowers"
- "A beautiful sight!"
- "Our nature...priceless"
- "Nature's delicate balance beautifully displayed in Coronado National Forest, Arizona, USA."
- "You might want to check your identification on both plant and insect"
- "Not a bee but a hoverfly"
- "That bee is a species of hoverfly, absolutely surprised at you, of all organizations"
- "Leave it to NatGeo…"
- "You would think Nat Geo could identify a bee, instead of a fly! Lesson for people that trust anything on social media, especially pictures"
- "Not on a marigold, either"
- "Looks more like a fly...National Geographic--do your research!"
With so much misinformation and disinformation spreading globally, even the humble hoverfly gets into the act!
Probably one of the most embarrassing mistakes, though, is that dratted fly on the cover of Bees of the World, authored by noted hymenopterists Christopher O'Toole and Anthony Raw.
Syrphid flies (order Diptera) are easily distinguished from honey bees (order Hymenoptera). Among the key differences: (1) syrphids have only one pair of wings, while honey bees have two (2) syrphids have short, stubby antennae, while honey bees have long, bent antennae called genticulate antennae and (3) syrphids have large, wrap-around eyes and honey bees do not.
And if you watch them in action, a hoverfly will hover over a flower before touching down (thus the name). A honey bee is more directional in her flight pattern as she buzzes in to forage on a flower.
Some hoverflies mimic the coloration of bees and wasps, gaining a little protection from predators. Unlike bees, however, hoverflies don't sting.
But cheers, both are pollinators!
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
You'll learn which butterfly populations are struggling and which ones are doing well, and glean more information about the research of UC Davis distinguished professor emeritus Art Shapiro, and his collaborator, Professor Matt Forister of the University of Nevada, his former doctoral student.
Shapiro has been monitoring the butterfly populations of central California since 1972. His transect of ten fixed study sites sprawls from the Sacramento River Delta, through the Sacramento Valley and Sierra Nevada mountains, and to the high desert of the western Great Basin. The sites, Shapiro says, "represent the great biological, geological, and climatological diversity of central California."
The article is authored by entomologist Mary Louise Flint, a docent at the center and editor of the quarterly. She holds the title of professor of Cooperative Extension emerita, based in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. She served as a longtime associate director of the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program (UC IPM) until her retirement in June 2014. (See her biography on the UC IPM website).
"Over the last decade or two, scientists in many parts of the world have documented examples of declining insect num- bers—both in numbers of species (species richness) and in the number of individuals of each species (population levels)," Flint began. "Habitat loss, pesticide use, and climate change are usually identified as the main contributing factors, although circumstances vary among insect species and location."
"Three of Shapiro's sample sites," Flint pointed out, "are relatively close to our nature area—Rancho Cordova, near the American River across from Sacramento Bar, North Sacramento on the American River near California State University, and West Sacramento in the Yolo Bypass near the causeway. (The Rancho Cordova site is closest and most similar to Effie Yeaw in habitat.) A close study of the data collected at these sites between 1988 and 2010 showed that summer minimum temperatures and fall maximum temperatures increased significantly and precipitation decreased. During this time, species richness tended to decrease after years of high temperatures and reduced precipitation."
Among those on "the struggling list" are the monarch, Danaus plexippus; West Coast lady, Vanessa annabella; the great copper, Lycaena xanthoides; and the large marble, Euchloe ausonides. The large marble, "formerly common in the Central Valley, Delta, Bay Area and lower foothills...has suffered an unexplained crash and is teetering on the brink of regional extinction," according to Shapiro's website.
Those on the "doing well" list include the Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae; pipevine swallowtail, Battus philenor; fiery skipper, Hylephila phyleus; the Western tiger swallowtail, Papilio rutulus; and the gray hairstreak, Strymon melinus.
See Flint's article for more information, and access Shapiro's research research website, and Forister's research website.
A buckeye butterfly, Junonia coenia (image by yours truly) graces the cover. Numerous other butterfly images illustrate the piece.
Shapiro recently delivered a presentation, "Using Butterflies to Understand Biotic Responses to Climate Change," at the UC Davis emeriti celebration, organized and coordinated by UC Davis Distinguished Professor Walter Leal of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology. (See Shapiro's presentation on YouTube and coverage on Bug Squad blog.)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
As mentioned earlier, two members of the Academic Senate's winners' circle are UC Davis Distinguished Professor Walter Leal of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology (and former professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology), and Professor Louie Yang of the Department of Entomology and Nematology (ENT).
Leal won the Distinguished Faculty Research Award (see Feb. 22 Bug Squad blog) and Yang won a Distinguished Teaching Award, undergraduate category (see Feb. 26 Bug Squad blog). UC Davis Distinguished Professor Bruce Hammock of ENT nominated Leal, while Joanna Chiu, professor and chair of ENT, nominated Yang.
The awards reception is Monday, May 13; more information is pending. "In all, 15 faculty members have received awards from the two groups at UC Davis," UC Davis Dateline reports. (See list of the recipients.)
Leal is the first UC Davis faculty member to win all three of the Academic Senate's most coveted awards: in research, teaching, and public service. In 2020, the Academic Senate awarded him the Distinguished Teaching Award for Undergraduate Teaching, and in 2022 Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Award.
“Dr. Leal is an internationally recognized entomologist and a world leader in his field for his groundbreaking and transformative research in insect olfaction and chemical ecology,” Hammock wrote. "Walter is truly a renaissance man. "He chaired our entomology department from 2006 to 2008, and under his tenure, our department was ranked No. 1 in the country. I've long admired (1) his rigorous fundamental research programs supported by National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and the U.S. Department of Food and Agriculture, and other agencies, (2) how he tackles and solves multiple challenging problems in insect olfaction and chemical ecology, (3) his grasp of how to organize and moderate highly successful worldwide research webinars (4) his generosity in helping other succeed and (4) his finely honed sense of humor."
Wrote Chiu: "I have watched him (Professor Yang) engage, inspire, and challenge his students, fostering creative and critical thinking like no one else I've ever seen. We deeply appreciate and admire his innovative and inclusive teaching, his exemplary work ethic, his welcoming demeanor, his dedication to his students, and his nationally recognized ecology expertise. Louie has received many well-deserved teaching and mentoring awards for his teaching contributions on and off campus.”
Of special note, too, is the James H. Meyer Distinguished Achievement Award, given annually to a member of the Academic Federation for "a distinguished record in research, teaching, and/or public service." This year the award went to Kirsten Gilardi, director of Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center, and a health sciences clinical professor of Medicine and Epidemiology, School of Veterinary Medicine.
Wrote Dateline: "Health Sciences Clinical Professor Kirsten Gilardi has been part of the UC Davis Community since 1989. She is currently the director of the Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center, a research, service and teaching center of excellence. In 2005, she founded the California Lost Fishing Gear Recovery Program, which hires experienced commercial scuba divers to remove gear and other marine debris from near-shore waters in a safe and environmentally sensitive manner. This program continues to help reduce the potential impact of losing fishing gear and marine debris on living marine resources and underwater habitat. Beyond her significant accomplishments in her field, her colleagues around the world highlight her passion for her position at UC Davis 'that expects her to protect wild animals and wild places.'"
Check out the Dateline website which includes a 2013 image of Gilardi with a silverback gorilla (image courtesy of Sandy Buckey.)
They all do UC Davis proud!
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Take stock of your flowers and pollinators; today is the first day of spring.
If Virginia stock, Malcolmia maritima, is blooming in your garden now, you'll likely be seeing honey bees, syrphid flies and other pollinators.
M. maritima, native to Greece and Albania, is a member of the family Brassicaceae, which includes mustards, broccoli, cabbages and cauliflower. It's self-sown. In its native habitat, it grows well in maritime sandy habitats, thus the "maritima" in its name.
The four-petaled flowers, quite fragrant, can range in color from lavender, white and pink to violet and purple.
In our garden in Vacaville, Virginia stock blooms profusely from spring to late fall, and can thrive in the winter.
Cheers to the first day of spring!
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
One of the first butterflies we see in the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden in midwinter is the Red Admiral, Vanessa atalanta.
Yes, this butterfly overwinters as an adult. It's picture-perfect with black wings, red bands and white spots. And on a picture-perfect day in midwinter, you may see it.
Or as butterfly guru Art Shapiro, UC Davis distinguished professor emeritus, says on his Art's Butterfly World website: "One of the most frequently seen butterflies in midwinter at low elevation, and often very common in the urban Bay Area, the Red Admiral occurs all around the Northern Hemisphere. It is multiple-brooded, overwinters as an adult, and may undergo altitudinal migration in the Sierra (where it is generally uncommon)."
"The larval hosts are all members of the Nettle family, Urticaceae, including not only the familiar Stinging Nettles (Urtica holosericea and U. urens) but the tiny-leaved ground cover Baby's Tears (Helxine or Soleirolia) in moist, shaded gardens and the climbing urban weed Pellitory (Parietaria) in the Bay Area. The larva is solitary, in a rolled-leaf shelter."
Shapiro has been monitoring butterfly populations in Central California since 1972. And the Red Admiral is just one of them.
If you visit the UC Davis Arboretum a picture-perfect day, you must may get the opportunity to admire the Red Admiral...This one was on a Roldana aschenborniana (Golden Light Senecio).