- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Friday noon!
At Friday noon, July 17, ant specialist Phil Ward, professor of entomology, will present a program on the species of ants found in the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven. This will be a special brown bag session in the haven, located on Bee Biology Road, next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility.
Among the native ants at the haven are
- Dorymyrmex insanus (workers small, ~3 mm long, black; conspicuous crater-shaped nests in bare soil)
- Dorymyrmex bicolor (workers small, ~3 mm long, bicolored, dull orange and black; conspicuous crater-shaped nests in bare soil)
- Prenolepis imparis (also known as the “winter ant” or “winter honey ant”; workers small (3-4 mm long), brown, with shiny gaster; inconspicuous nests in soil)
- Formica moki (sometimes called “field ants”; workers medium-sized (6 mm long), with a dark head, orange-brown mesosoma (thorax) and silvery-gray gaster; nest in soil)
Images of these species can be found on the AntWeb (www.antweb.org).
At least six other species of native ants reside in the vicinity of the garden, including Formica aerata, Pogonomyrmex subdentatus, and Solenopsis xyloni. The introduced Argentine ant (Linepithema humile) occurs around the Bee Biology building, but it appears not to have colonized the bee garden.
Attendees will learn how to observe and identify California native ants, and learn about the differences between bees and ants in this free event. For more information see the flier and access the haven web site. The haven is owned and operated by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. It was planted in the fall of 2009. Christine Casey is the staff director and Extension apiculturist Elina Niño is the faculty director.
Then on Saturday night, July 18, the Bohart Museum of Entomology's first-ever evening open house will take place from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. The Bohart is located at 1124 Academic Surge on Crocker Lane. Free and open to the public, Moth Night will include outdoor collecting; viewing of the Bohart Museum's vast collection of worldwide moth specimens; demonstrations on how to spread the wings of a moth; and information on how to differentiate a moth from a butterfly. Free hot chocolate will be served.
The event is in keeping with National Moth Week, July 18-26, an annual event coordinated by Friends of the East Brunswick (New Jersey) Environmental Commission. This year, National Moth Week will spotlight the Sphingidae family of moths found throughout the world commonly called hawk moths, sphinx moths and hornworms. Citizen scientists will be out in force to record and photograph what they see that week.
Tabatha Yang, public education and outreach coordinator of the Bohart, said that after the sun sets, a black light demonstration will be held. Visitors will collect moths from a white sheet, much as residents do around their porch lights.
Entomologist Jeff Smith of Rocklin, an associate and 27-year volunteer at the Bohart Museum, will show visitors how to spread the wings of moths. Smith curates the 400,000-specimen Lepidoptera collection at the Bohart Museum. Smith organizes and identifies the butterflies and moths, creates the drawers that display them, and the labels that identify them. In between, he shares his passion for insects and spiders at outreach programs. Since 1988, Smith has spread the wings of 200,000 butterflies and moths, or about 7000 a year.
Naturalist Greg Kareofelas of Davis, a longtime associate at the Bohart Museum, will assist with the open house and the outdoor collecting. The Bohart Museum, directed by Lynn Kimsey, professor of entomology at UC Davis, is a world-renowned insect museum that houses a global collection of nearly 8 million specimens.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Naturalist Greg Karofelas of Davis, an associate of the Bohart Museum of Entomology, has not only seen them, he has photographed them. See his truly spectacular photo below.
The mites look like a cross between pomegranate kernels and salmon eggs. They are hitchhikers!
It's a good case of phoresy, or the symbiotic relationship in which one organism transports another organism of a different species.
Scenario: Say a damselfly is laying her eggs in a fish pond or the wetlands. Say some mites are waiting for her. They seek free meals and a free ride to the next pond to find mates and reproduce.
The damselfly dips down. They jump up.
What a load!
We wrote about these mites in a Bug Squad blog on July 25, 2013.
As for the image of the water mites that Greg Kareofelas captured, he suspects they may be Arrenurus mitoensis.
All we can say is "Wow!" Great image, Greg!
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Last Sunday, however, a new species arrived--a male twelve-spotted skimmer (Libellula pulchella), as identified by naturalist Greg Kareofelas of Davis, an associate at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, UC Davis.
And a male, on Father's Day.
"The black spots on the wing tips, makes this a male Libellula pulchella," Kareofelas said.
The twelve-spotted skimmer flew in around noon, grabbed a few insects in flight (fast food!) and then perched on one of our bamboo stakes to eat them. Warily, he watched me approach. Fortunately, my 200mm macro lens allowed me to take a few shots before he took off.
This colorful little fellow is from the family, Libellulidae (skimmers); suborder Anisoptera (dragonflies); and order Odonata. By the way, if you're interested in buying the Bohart Museum poster, "Dragonflies of California," you can contact the museum at (530) 752-0493, or bmuseum@ucdavis.edu or visit the facility, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane. The museum, directed by Lynn Kimsey, UC Davis professor of entomology, is home of nearly eight million insect specimens. It is open to the public Mondays through Thursdays. The dragonfly poster is the work of then doctoral candidate Fran Keller (she now is "Dr. Fran") and Kareofelas.
According to BugguideGuide.net, Libellula pulchella "is found from British Columbia east to Nova Scotia, extending south through most of the U.S., from California east to Florida. It is absent from very dry areas. In Idaho, it occurs throughout most of the state except for the driest portions of the southwest."
Its habitat? Near lakes, ponds and marshes, particularly those with exposed shorelines.
Dragonflies like our yard due to the insects that fly over the fish pond and the insects that inhabit the pollinator garden, which offers quite a smorgasbord for predators. What does an adult dragonfly eat? Soft-bodied flying insects such as mosquitoes, flies, bees, butterflies, moths, mayflies, and the like. They are also very territorial and will chase away other dragonflies.
During the visit by the twelve-spotted dragonfly, two other dragonflies--red flameskimmers--appeared at the lunch counter.
It was a very good day for dragonflies.
Probably not so good for the sunflower bees and sweat bees...
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Ever heard of Schinia sueta?
It's a moth.
We spotted this little moth, from the Noctuidae family, in a meadow at the Hastings Preserve in Carmel in early May during the BugShot Macro Photography Course, taught by Alex Wild, John Abbott and Thomas Shahan.
The day-flying moth, as identified by butterfly experts Art Shapiro of UC Davis and Greg Kareofelas, an associate of the Bohart Museum of Entomology, stood out.
Schinia sueta is widespread in western North America. We were waiting for it to spread its wings in the meadow, filled with lupine, vetch and California golden poppies, and it finally did!
Speaking of moths, the Bohart Museum is hosting a "Moth Night"--the first of its kind held by the museum--on Saturday night, July 18 from 8 to 11 just outside its location, 1124 Academic Surge on Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. Yes, that's 8 to 11. At night.
You'll learn how to collect moths and how to identify them. You won't see Schinia sueta, but you'll see other moths! The event is free and open to the public. It's also the last weekend open house of the academic year.
The Bohart Museum houses a global collection of nearly eight million specimens. It is also the home of the seventh largest insect collection in North America, and the California Insect Survey, a storehouse of the insect biodiversity. Noted entomologist Richard M. Bohart (1913-2007) founded the museum.
The museum's regular hours are from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. The facility is closed to the public on Fridays and on major holidays. Admission is free. More information on the Bohart Museum is available by contacting (530) 752-0493 or Tabatha Yang, education and public outreach coordinator at tabyang@ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
He's never seen anything like it.
A pink cabbage white butterfly? Pieris rapae are not pink--they're white
Yet there it was, flying around Cypress Lane in West Davis around noon Thursday, March 15. It was sporting a new do, a strange pinkish/red hue.
"When I looked at it closely, I could see it had been 'sprayed' with a red color both top and bottom," said Greg Kareofelas, who wears several hats (he's an associate of the UC Davis Bohart Museum of Entomology; a naturalist who specializes in butterflies and dragonflies; and a photographer).
He shot out an email query, "Who's making pink rapae?"
"Someone COULD be trying to trace movements by making individuals highly visible, but I certainly haven't heard of it," replied butterfly expert Art Shapiro, distinguished professor of evolution and ecology at UC Davis who maintains Art's Butterfly World. It is Shapiro who conducts the annual "Beer for a Butterfly Contest," offering a pitcher of beer for the first Pieris rapae of the year in the three-county area of Sacramento, Yolo and Solano. (Hint: they're always white.)
"Looks to me like someone's doing a mark and recapture," said Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum and a UC Davis professor of entomology. "I haven't heard of any project, though."
Meanwhile the pink rapae remains a mystery. An escapee from a lab? Part of a high school science project? The work of a prankster with leftover spray paint? A cucurbits project?
Anyone out there missing a pink rapae?
