- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's out. 
This is the bible of the beekeeping world, and rightfully so. It was first published in 1853--which, by the way, happens to be the same year that the European honey bee arrived in California.
Apiarist, minister, and teacher L. L. Langstroth (1810-1895), “The Father of American Beekeeping,” wrote the first edition, then called Langstroth on the Hive and the Honey Bee.
The Hive and the Honey Bee, last updated in 1992, is a massive effort. Published by Dadant, the 1057-page book is the work of dozens of national and international icons in beekeeping science and the beekeeping industry. The book traces the global history of beekeeping to modern day apiculture and spotlights the progress, problems and achievements along the way. European colonists brought the honey bee to America (Jamestown colony) in 1622.
Gary wrote a chapter on “Activities and Behavior of Honey Bees"; Mussen, “Injury to Honey Bees by Poisoning"; and Cobey, “Instrumental Insemination of Honey Bee Queens.”
“It has taken us until the 21st Century to realize just how important these hardworking insects are and their significance in the integrity of the environment is, at least, beginning to be fully understood,” wrote Richard Jones, director emeritus of the International Bee Research Association, Cardiff, United Kingdom, in the first chapter. “There are many threats to honey bees and the possibility of their demise has sharpened interest in them and in turn led to further investigating, scientific research and the dissemination of more material on their management and well-being.”
Gary opened his chapter with “The activities and behaviors of honey bees haven't changed significantly in thousands of years! What has changed is our understanding of how and why bees behave as they do.”
Mussen began his chapter with “Honey bees have been exposed to naturally occurring intoxicants and poisons for tens of millions of years. Their exposure was limited mostly to toxicants that were components of nectar and pollen or naturally occurring gases such as methane from anaerobic breakdown of organic wastes.”
“While flying as many as four miles from the hive in their quest for water, nectars, pollens and propolis, a fifty-square mile potential area of coverage, forages are likely to encounter many different chemicals and organisms,” Mussen wrote.
In her chapter on instrumental insemination, Cobey wrote: “The ability to control honey bee mating is essential for stock improvement and a valuable research tool. Instrumental insemination provides complete control of the random honey be mating behavior.”
Cobey noted that queens “mate in flight with an average of 10 to 20 drones in congregating areas consisting of 10,000 to 30,000 drones from diverse genetic sources.”
Former manager of the Harry H.Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, Cobey served UC Davis from 2007 to 2012 when she joined the WSU Department of Entomology. With a strong background in practical bee breeding for the commercial industry, she developed a collaborative honey bee stock improvement and maintenance program, partnering with the California queen producers. She coordinated a project to develop techniques for the international transport of honey beegermplasm. Under a permit from the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), germplasm collected from Old World European honey bees was successfully imported and incorporated into domestic breeding stocks to enhance U.S. honey bees. Cobey developed information and outreach programs to assist beekeepers in honey bee breeding methods, providing instructional material and workshops in queen rearing and instrumental insemination, presented locally and internationally.
Norm Gary, Eric Mussen, Susan Cobey--three UC Davis scientists who made a difference in the beekeeping world and are sharing their expertise.
The "bee bible" belongs on the bookshelf of every bee scientist, beekeeper, and bee enthusiast.
(Editor's Note: The price for the new edition is $54.50 plus shipping, and the books can be ordered now from the Dadant web site: www.dadant.com or purchased at any of the Dadant branches. The toll-free order line for the Hamilton, Ill., home office is 1-888-922-1293.)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
You just can't beat those Halloween costumes at the Bohart Museum of Entomology's annual membership party.
But have you ever thought of being a..drum roll..long-horned beetle? Of course, you have! Probably every Halloween, right?
Talk about creative!
UC Davis entomology undergraduate student Laurie Casebier crafted the cerambycidae beetle (long-horned beetle) costume. "I used my bike helmet and cut a hula hoop in half and attached the ends to my helmet to make the long antenna and used duct tape to make the familiar notched eyes," she said. "Then I cut out paper and my pseudotetramerous tarsi. I used a scarf as elytra. It was kind of modeled after the apple borer, but not really."
Forensic entomologist Bob Kimsey of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology faculty wore his favorite ghillie suit as he poured beverages for the crowd.
Then there were the look-alikes. Entomology student Maia Lundy, president of the UC Davis Entomology Club, dressed like her friend, entomology graduate Alex Nguyen ("Maia decided that it would be funny to look like me," he said)
and entomology graduate student Joel Hernandez and UC Davis alumnus Melissa Cruz arrived as lumberjacks,
And then were were the bees that buzzed and the butterflies that fluttered.
No one wore an orange T-shirt that proclaimed "This IS my Halloween costume."
That would..er...really bug entomologists.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
No, expect to see a peacock jumping spider, violin spider, and praying mantis. And okay, maybe a monarch butterfly and a honey bee or two.
But a peacock jumping spider?
The best costume at the Bohart Musuem's recent Halloween party was of a peacock jumping spider, designed, created and worn by UC Davis entomology undergraduate student Wade Spencer.
And that's not all. He performed courtship dances throughout the evening, wowing the crowd.
“He spent a huge amount of time on this even practicing the 'moves' watching videos of the spiders,” said Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and professor of entomology.
Bohart Museum associate Fran Keller, who received her doctorate in entomology at UC Davis, captured a video of Spencer's courtship dance. Posted on the Bohart Museum Facebook page, it immediately went viral on social media. (As of Nov. 1, more than 700,000 accessed it.)
How did Spencer come up with the idea? From watching biologist Jürgen Otto's videos of the peacock jumping spider. See Otto's video on YouTube.
When Spencer saw the videos, he thought "Wow! these little things are amazing!"
"Then when I saw the species Maratus speciosus, I thought the pattern on the abdomen looked somewhat like a face. The moment that occurred to me I decided I could make that a mask and the costume idea was instantly solidified in my mind.”
Spencer, who plans to obtain a doctorate in entomology and teach, hails from a tiny rural suburb of Los Angeles called Sunland. “It's often seen as 'Sunland/Tujunga' as they are joint communities with a rich history," he said. "They're also often seen in movies, TV shows, and commercials as it's a popular filming area.”
A graduate of Verdugo Hills Senior High School, Tujunga, Calif., he then went on to Pasadena City College (PCC) before transferring to UC Davis.
Spencer said his insect interest "all started with my great grandmother whom I called 'Gommie.' She babysat me often and would take me out into nature for picnics and such. There she would teach me about the plants, birds, snakes and lizards, the water cycle, geology, mammals, and, of course, insects. She didn't know many of the scientific names but she knew so many common names. it'd make your head spin. After many years of her influence and really learning how to simply stop and appreciate the nature around me, I decided I wanted to get into biology.”
After he completed ecology/evolutionary biology courses at PCC and field projects, he decided that "field biology was the thing for me."
"Then, after completing organic chemistry, I decided I wanted to synthesize molecules, specifically pharmacological compounds. I really wanted to either work with plants or bugs to extract molecules for potential medicines as they have amazing compounds with insane properties to them. Then I realized that while I loved the organic chemistry and all that, I really didn't want to be cooped up in a lab all day as my true passion was to be out in the field.”
“I lived with my great grandma from 2008 until 2014, taking care of her in her older years as she did for me in my younger years," Spencer recalled. "She would always encourage me to get into the sciences and follow my true passions.” He applied to a handful of colleges and was accepted by three. “I thought about it for a little and came to the conclusion that if I study bugs--which are way cooler than only flowers--I could also study the plants that I loved.”
Wade Spencer chose UC Davis. Unfortunately, his great-grandmother passed suddenly in November of 2013. "So, long story still long, my great grandmother was the one to push me into the amazing world of bugs and I still feel like a curious and playful child when I'm out in the field frolicking with the bugs and the rest of nature. I find my peace when I'm out in nature because I feel connected with my best friend, my Gommie.”
Spencer volunteers at the Bohart Museum of Entomology open houses, held periodically throughout the academic year. He can be found enthusiastically encouraging visitors to hold a rose-haired tarantula named Peaches, and extolling the virtues of Madagascar hissing cockroaches and walking sticks.
As for Fran Keller's video, it's drawing lots of comments on social media, including:
- This Wade person is amazing for not only making this costume but performing the dance that goes with it.
- Best Halloween costume, ever!
- So funny, only biologists and entomologists would understand the human and mastery
- Nice to see other people admire these little critters
- I completely love this person!
- Guy in costume, will you marry me? I love you!
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
We love looking at insect images.
Drum roll...the winning images for the Entomological Society of America's Photo Salon, a global competition, have just been announced. They will be shown at the ESA's meeting, Nov. 15-18 in Minneapolis, Minn. (The ESA theme this year is "Synergy in Science: Partnering for Solutions.")
You can see the list of winners and their images here: http://www.peoriacameraclub.com/Steve/Html/sect_1.htm
You'll see the best of show, a stunning butterfly image taken in Croatia. You'll see pests, prey, and predators. You'll see insects having a "happy meal." You'll see bug porn, or insects love caught in the act of reproducing more of the critters we love to shoot. You'll see insects you've never seen before--and probably will never see again.
They're spectacular. They're awe-inspiring. They're amazing.
As an aside, two of my photos were selected for the Photo Salon: One is of a bee fly that I titled "Pollen Power" and the other of two praying mantids ("Giddy Up").
Next year, you enter! Track that robber fly, follow that moth, and dash after that Blue Dasher. And don't forget the spiders. They're not insects, but arthropod images are also welcome in the Photo Salon competition.
If you want to learn more about macro photography, check out the Bug Shot Macro workshops at http://bugshot.net/. The instructors include noted insect photographers:
Alex Wild
John Abbott
Thomas Shahan
Piotr Naskrecki
Nicky Bay
We attended the four-day workshop May 7-10, 2015 at Hastings Reserve, a biological field station owned and operated by the University of California, Berkeley. Texas-based Alex Wild and John Abbott and Oregon-based Thomas Shahan served as the instructors and shared their knowledge and research. By the way, Wild received his doctorate in entomology from UC Davis and recently moved from Illinois to be the curator of entomology in the College of Natural Sciences, University of Austin. Wild specializes in ants; Abbott, dragonflies; and Shahan, jumping spiders. But they, of course, focus on other arthropods, too.
It was an incredible four days. More will come.
Ready, set, focus! Oh, no, where did that yellow-faced bumble bee go?
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
If you're nurturing a passionflower vine (Passiflora), you've probably seen "The Butterfly Ballet."'
The Gulf Fritillaries (Agraulis vanillae), orangish-reddish butterflies with silver-spangled wings, stay close to Passiflora, their host plant. It's the circle of life. The males patrol for females, find them, and mate. The females lay eggs, eggs become caterpillars, caterpillars become chrysalids. The adults emerge, and the Butterfly Ballet begins anew.
The Gulf Frits have no borders or boundaries, nor should they, as they shoot and soar over fences and gates. Theirs is not a gated community.
The "no-borders, no-boundaries" scenario reminds us of the upcoming conference of the International Congress of Entomology (ICE), to take place Sept. 25-30, 2016 in Orlando, Fla. The theme: "Entomology Without Borders."
The conference, expected to be the world's largest gathering of entomologists--some 7,000 are expected to attend--is chaired by chemical ecologist Walter Leal, professor in the UC Davis Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology and former chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology, and vegetable research entomologist Alvin Simmons of USDA/ARS. They have lined up prestigious speakers, including two Nobel Prize winners: Peter Agre (Nobel Laureate, 2003 and Jules Hoffmann (Nobel Laureate, 2011). Among the other speakers is one of Cuba's leading entomologists, Juan Andrés Bisset, head of the Vector Control Department at the Pedro Kouri Institute of Tropical Medicine and an advisor to the Cuban Public Health Ministry.
Other UC Davis connections? Two of the plenary speakers are James R. Carey, distinguished professor of entomology at UC Davis, and Arizona State University Provost Robert E. Page Jr., former professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology.
ICE is held once every four years in different countries around the world. Next year it will be held simultaneously with the annual meetings of the Entomological Society of America, the Entomological Society of Canada, and other organizations. For more information, access the ICE website at http://ice2016orlando.org.
Meanwhile, think of "Gulf Frits Without Gulfs" or "Bugs Without Borders" closely linked to "Entomology Without Borders."
