- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
It wouldn't make the news, even if it were a "Slow News Day."
"Lady in Red Climbs Neon-Pink Petals in Search of Aphids."
Lady beetles, aka ladybugs, are coming out of their winter hibernation now and they're hungry. Aphid-hungry.
We spotted this lady beetle Feb. 7 in a flower pot containing an iceplant, Carpobrotus edulis, native to South Africa. Iceplant is an invasive plant.
"Iceplant was introduced to California in the early 1900s as an erosion stabilization tool used on railroad tracks, and later used by Caltrans on roadsides," according to an article, "Invasive to Avoid--Iceplant," posted by the California Fish and Wildlife. "It has been used as an ornamental for many years, and is still sold in nurseries. Unfortunately, iceplant spreads easily, and has become invasive in coastal California from north of Humboldt County to as far south as Baja California. When it establishes in a location, it forms a large, thick mat that chokes out all other native plants and alters the soil composition of the environment. Because it is a coastal invader, it competes with many endangered, threatened, and rare plants." (See what Calflora.org says about it.)
California has about 200 species of lady beetles. Check out the lady beetles on the University of California Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program (UC IPM) to see many of the species. They are voracious consumers of aphids and other soft-bodied insects.
Meanwhile, a news flash: "Lady in Red Climbs Neon-Pink Petals..."
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Plenty of interactions occurred among bugs, plants and people at the 12th annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day, a Super Science Day recently held on the UC Davis campus and both free and family friendly.
Check out some of the activities at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, the Center for Plant Diversity and the Botanical Conservatory. They were among the 11 museums and collections showcased. Also a key part of the annual event: the Anthropology Museum, Arboretum and Public Garden, California Raptor Center, Nematode Collection, Marine Invertebrate Collection, Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, Paleontology Collection and the Phaff Yeast Culture Collection.
BioDiv Day, founded by the Bohart Museum, is traditionally held on Presidents' Day weekend. This year's event drew an estimated 3000, according to chair Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator of the Bohart Museum.
A few photos of the interactions among bugs, plants and people....
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Just ask the scientists at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, UC Davis, who rear them in their petting zoo. They show them at their open houses, including the recent UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day, and invite folks to get acquainted. But first, they ask "Would you like to hold one?"
The reactions range from "No way! I'm outta here!" to "Yes, yes, of course!"
Finn Jensen, 2 1/2, of Davis, is in the latter category.
He watched as UC Davis doctoral candidate Emma Jochim of the Jason Bond arachnology lab, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, held up a hisser.
Finn could hardly wait. As Jochim gingerly dropped the insect in his hand, he beamed with delight.
"He's been interested in bugs since he first went out and played in the dirt before he could walk," said Mom Jenna. "He loves exploring and helping in the garden while his dad gardens and they lift up logs at his preschool DCCNS (a parent cooperative pre-school) to search for bugs. I worked with flies in grad school so it's fun to see his be a little scientist too."
"This was his first time at both the Bohart Museum and Biodiversity Day," Jenna added, "and we are going back this week to see more. He loved seeing the scorpions that glowed and holding the walking stick bugs and touching the fish, turtles and snakes. He also loved coloring a 'frankenbat' and seeing the skull of a hippopotamus, it was huge!"
In addition to insects, Finn also likes trains "and things with wheels so the ag museum (California Agriculture Museum in Woodland) and railroad museum have been fun to go to lately. He enjoys gardening and yard work with his dad Brent, and going on walks at the Arboretum and Putah Creek."
The Bohart Museum, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, is open to the public Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to noon, and from 1 to 5 p.m. Directed by UC Davis distinguished professor Lynn Kimsey, it houses a worldwide collection of eight million insect specimens, a live "petting zoo" (Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insects and tarantulas) and an insect-themed gift shop.
Walking Sticks (5 species):
- Great thin stick insects (Ramulus nematodes), native to Malaysia, dimorphic (blue males)
- Borneo thorny stick insect (Aretaon asperrimus), native to Borneo
- Vietnamese stick insect (Medauroidea extradentata), native to Vietnam
- Golden-eyed stick insect (Peruphasma schultei) native to Peru/Ecuador
- Australian Leaf insect (Extatosoma tiaratum), native to Northern forests of Australia
- Princess Herbert, the Brazilian salmon-pink bird-eating tarantula (Lasiodora parahybana). She is estimated to be around 20 years old, the oldest current resident of the Bohart Museum
- Peaches, the Chilean rose hair tarantula (Grammostola rosea)
- Coco McFluffin, the Chaco golden knee tarantula (Grammostola pulchripes), native to Paraguay and Argentina
- Two black widows (Latrodectus hesperus)
- One brown widow (Latrodectus geometricus)
- Madagascar hissing cockroaches (Gromphadorhina sp.)
- Giant Cave cockroach (Blaberus giganteus)
- Beatrice the Vietnamese centipede (Scolopendra subspinipes), the newest resident
- Ironclad beetles
- Bark scorpion
Want to hold a Madagascar hissing cockroach? Be sure to attend the Bohart Museum open house during the 109th annual UC Davis Picnic Day on Saturday, April 15.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Access Wikipedia, and you'll learn they have eight legs, a pair of grasping pincers, and generally, a narrow, segemented tail that's curved over the back and ends with a stinger. They prey primarily on insects and other invertebrates. Their ancestors date back some 435 million years ago.
Scorpions now live on all continents except Antarctica. Scientists have described more than 2,500 described species in 22 families. The most venomous scorpion? That's considered to be "the deathstalker," Leiurus quinquestriatus, belonging to the Buthidae family.
What makes the deathstalker's venom so lethal is a potent cocktail of neurotoxins including chlorotoxin, agitoxin and scyllatoxin. While extremely dangerous, the unique chemical composition and scarcity of its venom also makes it the most valuable liquid (by volume) in the world with an estimated cost of $39 million per gallon. It is prized by the medical community because its properties have been found to be effective in the treatment of cancer, malaria and against bacteria such as tuberculosis.--Guinness Book of World Records.
Most people have never seen a scorpion up close, but visitors did at the Bohart Museum of Entomology display in the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, during the 12th annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day.
Live scorpions, as well as specimens, drew curious looks and scores of questions.
Kat Taylor, a UC Davis freshman majoring in entomology, helped with a display coordinated by the Jason Bond arachnology lab. Bond, an authority on spiders, tarantulas and scorpions (among other arachnids) serves as the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair in Insect Systematics, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and the associate dean, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
The Bond lab display included sun scorpions, also known as wind scorpions, order Solifugae; and whip spiders or tailless whip scorpions, order Amblypygi.
Senior insect biosystematist Martin Hauser of the Plant Pest Diagnostics Branch, California Department of Food and Agriculture, and a traditional part of Biodiversity Museum Day, displayed Asian forest scorpions (genus Heterometrus) and two walking sticks (order Phasmida): Extatosoma tiaratum, the Australian spiny walking stick, and Ramulus artemis, a giant Vietnamese stick insect known as "a great thin walking stick."
Visitors marveled when Martin fluoresced a scorpion under ultraviolet light, turning it from an obscure brown to a glowing blue-green.
Scientists have known for more than 60 years that fluorescent compounds in the exoskeletons glow when exposed to UV light.
The 12th annual Biodiversity Museum Day showcased 11 museums and collections: the Anthropology Museum, Arboretum and Public Garden, Bohart Museum of Entomology, Botanical Conservatory, California Raptor Center, Center for Plant Diversity, Nematode Collection, Marine Invertebrate Collection, Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, Paleontology Collection and the Phaff Yeast Culture Collection.
BioDiv Day, founded by the Bohart Museum, is traditionally held on Presidents' Day weekend. This year's event, held Feb. 18, drew an estimated 3000, according to chair Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator of the Bohart Museum. The "Super Science Day" is free and family friendly.
The Bohart Museum and the Jason Bond lab are both located in the Academic Surge Building. The Bohart Museum, located in Room 1124 and directed by UC Davis distinguished professor Lynn Kimsey, houses a worldwide collection of eight million insect specimens, plus a live "petting zoo" and a gift shop. The Bohart Museum is open to the public Monday through Thursday, from 8 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 5 p.m.
The next event to see insects and arachnids in the Academic Surge Building? That would Saturday, April 15 during the 109th annual UC Davis Picnic Day. It is free and open to the public.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Research molecular biologist Dana Nayduch of the Agricultural Research Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA-ARS), will speak on "Can Surveying Microbial Communities of House Flies Help Us Understand Emerging Threats to Animal and Human Health?" at 4:10 p.m., Wednesday, March 1 in 122 Briggs Hall, Kleiber Hall Drive, UC Davis campus.
Her lecture also will be virtual. The Zoom link:
https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/95882849672
Nayduch, based in Manhattan, Kansas, will be introduced by her colleague, medical entomologist-geneticist Geoffrey Attardo, assistant professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
"Dana is doing very cool work with house flies and looking at how bacteria in the fly are trading antibiotic resistance genes among themselves," said Attardo. "It's an interesting and scary system as antibiotic resistance is so high due to antibiotic usage in livestock rearing."
"House flies (Musca domestica L.) are ubiquitous, cosmopolitan pests inhabiting urban, rural and agricultural environments throughout the world. In these habitats acquire microbes from septic substrates that are used for feeding and reproduction, Nayduch says in her abstract. "Flies subsequently harbor and disseminate these microorganisms which may pose a risk to human and animal health. Our research characterizes and analyzes microbial communities of house flies using culture-based and molecular approaches in order to better understand their roles in the transmission of important bacterial disease agents and/or antimicrobial resistance. Because the microbial communities within house flies represent a snapshot of the microbes found in their local habitat, we also gain valuable insight into existing and emerging microbial threats to humanand animal health through our surveys which can help in predicting and preventing disease."
A pre-seminar coffee will take place from 3:30 to 4:10 in 158 Briggs.
Dana received her bachelor's degree in animal science from Rutgers University and her doctorate in zoology from Clemson University, where she studied house flies as vectors for pathogens. She served as a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University School of Public Health, working on molecular-genetic studies of tsetse flies. She then joined Georgia Southern University (GSU) as an assistant professor of biology in 2004, advancing to associate professor in 2009. At GSU she received NIH-R15 funding to study house fly-microbe molecular interactions.
Active in the Entomological Society of America (ESA), Nayduch is the vice president-elect of the Medical, Urban and Veterinary Entomology (MUVE) Section. A peer reviewer for the Journal of Medical Entomology and an editorial board member and subject editor for Annals for ESA, she organized and edited the first special collection for Annals: “Filth Fly-Microbe Interactions."
The UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology's winter seminars are held on Wednesdays at 4:10 p.m. in 122 Briggs Hall. All are virtual. Urban landscape entomologist Emily Meineke, assistant professor, coordinates the seminars. (See schedule.) She may be reached at ekmeineke@ucdavis.edu for technical issues.
