- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's a sad photo.
The antenna of a honey bee pokes out of an abandoned hive. Victim of colony collapse disorder (CCD)? Perhaps.
Everytime I look at the bent antenna, I think of a plea for help. Help me! Help me! Please help me! This bee should have been nectaring flowers or gathering pollen.
This hive once belonged to entomologists Robert and Lynn Kimsey of UC Davis. She's the director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and chairs the Department of Entomology. He's the sole forensic entomologist in the department.
CCD was one of the topics at the eighth annual international conference of the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC), held Oct. 22-24 in Washington, D.C.
The participants--farmers, scientists, and environmental advocates--agreed that we need to find ways to increase public awareness of pollinators. Pollinator Partnership chair Robert Lang described the loss of pollinators as "a potential health crisis for the planet."
Scores of beekeepers have witnessed a crisis in an individual bee hive.
Like the one below.
(Like to help with the honey bee research at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at the University of California, Davis? Access this site.)
![The antenna of a honey bee pokes out of an abandoned hive. Colony collapse disorder? Perhaps. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) The antenna of a honey bee pokes out of an abandoned hive. Colony collapse disorder? Perhaps. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/bugsquad/blogfiles/937.jpg)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology, said it best.
"Headgear."
The "headgear" was actually a Giant New Guinea Walking Stick crawling up the face of Eric San Gregorio, an undergraduate student majoring in entomology at UC Davis.
The occasion: the Bohart Museum's "Happy Halloween" open house on Thursday, Oct. 23.
See, the Bohart Musuem at 1124 Academic Surge, UC Davis, not only houses seven million specimens (it's the seventh largest insect museum in North America) but it also showcases live critters--like Madagascar hissing cockroaches, giant spiders and walking sticks.
About the Giant New Guinea Walking Stick (Eurycantha calcarata): it's from the order Phasmatodea and is native to New Guinea. It can grow up to six inches long. It's covered in spines. The males have large spikes on their back femurs while females have a larger abdomen ending in an oviposter, or egg-laying organ.
The walking stick dines on bramble, rose and guava.
It does not dine on little children.
Janice Calvento, 7, of Sacramento loved the honey bees, the honey tasting, the bee observation hive and just about everything else at the open house.
She did not like the walking stick walking up Eric's face.
(Note: an article on the Bohart Museum open house, with photos, will appear in the next edition of the Bohart Museum Society newsletter)
![NEW HEADGEAR--Eric San Gregorio, an undergraduate student majoring in entomology at UC Davis, has new headgear: a Giant New Guinea Walking Stick. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) NEW HEADGEAR--Eric San Gregorio, an undergraduate student majoring in entomology at UC Davis, has new headgear: a Giant New Guinea Walking Stick. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/bugsquad/blogfiles/925.jpg)
![I'D RATHER NOT LOOK AT IT, THANK YOU--Bohart Museum visitor Janice Calvento wasn't all that fond of the Giant New Guinea Walking Stick climbing the face of UC Davis entomology student Eric San Gregorio. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) I'D RATHER NOT LOOK AT IT, THANK YOU--Bohart Museum visitor Janice Calvento wasn't all that fond of the Giant New Guinea Walking Stick climbing the face of UC Davis entomology student Eric San Gregorio. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/bugsquad/blogfiles/926.jpg)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Hover flies do know how to hover.
Like a helicopter with spinning blades, the hover fly lingers seemingly motionless in mid-air over a flower before zeroing down to feed on the nectar.
Sometimes they’re called flower flies. Sometimes syprhids. They’re from the family Syrphidae and mimic the black-and-yellow coloring of wasps or bees. The coloring protects them from predators. Leave me alone! Let me bee!
Last Sunday our rock purslane (Calandrinia grandiflora) attracted its share of honey bees and hover flies.
In fact, so popular was the rock purslane (which we purchased from Ray and Maria Lopez of El Rancho Nursery and Landscaping,
Instead I focused my macro lens, shot away, and then, for fun, altered the image in Photoshop with “poster edges.”
For a brief period, the hover fly became my poster child.
![HOVERING--A hover fly hovers over a rock purslane (Calandrinia grandiflora). Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) HOVERING--A hover fly hovers over a rock purslane (Calandrinia grandiflora). Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/bugsquad/blogfiles/921.jpg)
![NECTARING--A hover fly gathers nectar from a rock purslane (Calandrinia grandiflora). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) NECTARING--A hover fly gathers nectar from a rock purslane (Calandrinia grandiflora). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/bugsquad/blogfiles/922.jpg)
![A PAINTING? No, it's a hover fly Photoshopped. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) A PAINTING? No, it's a hover fly Photoshopped. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/bugsquad/blogfiles/924.jpg)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
There they sat, a row of jack o'lanterns ready for a light.
Undergraduate students at the University of California, Davis, created them for the "Happy Halloween" open house, held Oct. 23 at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, 1124 Academic Surge, UC Davis.
All that the oranges globes needed: someone with a match.
Outreach education program coordinator Brian Turner obliged, lighting the three jack o'lanterns: a butterfly, a dragonfly and a bee. (Me thinks the honey-bee jack o'lantern was really a jill o'lantern.)
Honey bees--the queen bee, workers and drones--drew eager interest at the open house. Visitors admired a honey bee observation hive, learned about bees, and tasted honey. Even royal jelly. So, what does royal jelly taste like, this food of queen bees? It tastes like you want another taste of clover honey. Quick.
Visitors also checked out the Madagascar hissing cockroaches, giant New Guinea walking sticks and assorted spiders as they sampled chicken wings, shrimp, fruit and cookies.
The museum, named for prominent entomologist Richard Bohart (1913-2007), was founded in 1946. Directed by Lynn Kimsey (who also serves as chair of the Department of Entomology), the museum is known for having the seventh largest insect collection in North America. It houses some seven million insect specimens.
And now, three jack o'lanterns.
![SOMETHING BUGGY HERE: These jack o'lanterns cast an eerie glow: a butterfly, honey bee and a dragonfly. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) SOMETHING BUGGY HERE: These jack o'lanterns cast an eerie glow: a butterfly, honey bee and a dragonfly. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/bugsquad/blogfiles/915.jpg)
![BEE A PUMPKIN--This jack o'lantern drew a lot of interest at the Bohart Museum of Entomology's BEE A PUMPKIN--This jack o'lantern drew a lot of interest at the Bohart Museum of Entomology's](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/bugsquad/blogfiles/916.jpg)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
If you're interested in insects--the good, the bad and the ugly--don't miss the Northern California Entomology Society meeting on Thursday, Nov. 6 in Contra Costa County.
You don't have to be a member. No one is going to ask you "What are you doing here?" or comment "I guess they let just about anybody in now, huh?"
Fact is, this organization meets three times a year and the meetings are open to the public. You just have to express an interest in bugs--because they express an interest in you. (Especially mosquitoes!)
Insects have been on this earth about 400 million years and they've got this "live-life-for-all-it's-worth" down pat. Odds are, some insects will be at the meeting or just outside the door. Let me in!
The meeting begins at 9:15 a.m. with registration and coffee in the Contra Costa Mosquito Control and Vector District conference room, 155 Mason Circle, Concord.
Speakers will discuss the light brown apple moth, Asian citrus psyllid and other quarantined pests, announced president Susan Sawyer, area manager of Pest Detection/Emergency Projects, California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA). Also planned: the election of officers.
The agenda:
9:30 a.m.: “Biocontrol of Light Brown Apple Moth, a Quarantine Pest in
10:15 a.m.: “
11 a.m.: “Native California Bees Looking for Cheap Urban Real Estate” by professor Gordon Frankie (or assistant), UC Berkeley
11:45 a.m.: Annual business meeting
1:15 p.m.: “Update on Asian Citrus Psyllid, a Quarantine Pest in
2 p.m.: “Overview of CDFA Pests, with Emphasis on Quarantine Pest” (CDFA speaker, to be announced)
The Northern California Entomoogy Society is comprised of university faculty, researchers, pest abatement professionals, students and other interested persons.
For more information, contact society president Susan Sawyer, CDFA, (916) 262-0855, or SSawyer@cdfa.ca.gov. Or contact society
![THE BAD--This is the light brown apple moth, a male. The CDFA's William Roltsch will discuss THE BAD--This is the light brown apple moth, a male. The CDFA's William Roltsch will discuss](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/bugsquad/blogfiles/913.jpg)
![THE UGLY--The invasive Asian citrus psyllid will be discussed by the CDFA's Kris Godfrey at the Northern California Entomology Society meeting on Nov. 6 in Concord. Description from the CDFA site: THE UGLY--The invasive Asian citrus psyllid will be discussed by the CDFA's Kris Godfrey at the Northern California Entomology Society meeting on Nov. 6 in Concord. Description from the CDFA site:](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/bugsquad/blogfiles/914.jpg)