The spider failed to snag a butterfly, so it went for Plan Bee.

That would be the honey bee, Apis mellifera.

The bee is usually foraging for nectar and pollen and not that aware of her surroundings, especially a cunning and very hungry spider.

So this orbweaver lies in wait for prey to appear on its "dinner plate." A venomous bite and the bee is paralyzed. And dinner is served à la carte.

It's not what Ernest Hemingway would call a pretty sight. But then again, everything eats in the garden. 

Repeat: Everything eats in the garden whether we want it to or not. 

A fantastic line-up awaits those eager to attend the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology's in-person and virtual seminars. Topics include earwigs, green roofs, fruit flies and nematodes.  

Nematologist and plant pathologist Shahid Siddique, assistant professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and coordinator of the department's seminars for the 2021-22 academic year, has announced the list of fall quarter seminars, which begin Sept. 29 and conclude Dec. 1.  

All will be held at 4 p.m. on Wednesdays, Pacific Time, and will include both in-person and virtual seminars. 

"We we have an exciting list of seminars that includes both national and international speakers," Siddique said. 

The in-person seminars will take place in Room 122 of Briggs Hall, located off Kleiber Hall Drive. These seminars will be recorded for later viewing.

Three of the seminars will be virtual. "Virtual seminars will be accomplished using the Zoom meeting software package," Siddique related. A Zoom link will be provided a week before the seminar.

First on tap will be the exit seminar of doctoral candidate Hanna Kahl of the lab of UC Davis distinguished professor Jay Rosenheim. She will speak on "Herbivory of Citrus Fruit by European Earwigs in California" at 4 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 29. This will be an in-person seminar.

No seminar will be held Nov. 3, which conflicts with the annual meeting of the Entomological Society of America (ESA), set Oct. 31-Nov. 3 in Denver, Colo. Many faculty attend the annual meeting.

The seminars are open to all interested persons.

Siddique joined the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology in July 2019 after serving as a research group leader for several years at the University of Bonn, Germany. Research in the Siddique lab focuses on basic as well as applied aspects of interaction between parasitic nematodes and their host plants. "The long-term object of our research is not only to enhance our understanding of molecular aspects of plant–nematode interaction but also to use this knowledge to provide new resources for reducing the impact of nematodes on crop plants in California."

For further information on the seminars, contact Siddique at ssiddique@ucdavis.edu.

Step right up, folks! 
I'm a lady beetle, aka ladybug, and it's lunch time. 
Or maybe it's snack time, I don't know. I don't talk when my mouth is full. 
What I do know is this: aphids are tasty and they line up to be eaten. Or sometimes it appears that way!

Lady beetles, the good guys and gals in the garden, are natural enemies of aphids and other soft-bodied insects. Scientists say a lady beetle may eat as many as 5000 aphids in its lifetime. 

The red coloration serves as a warning that “I don't taste good.” When attacked, they ooze a substance that further emphasizes that.

 Even the larvae of these beetles eat aphids. Unfortunately, the alligator-like larvae are mistaken for pests and many an novice gardener has killed them. 

"They are ferocious predators of small insects,"  says Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and a UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology. In her information sheet on lady beetles, she mentions that "adults will also feed on pollen and nectar when their prey is scarce."

Factoid: "Lady beetles will occasionally bite humans. However, they apparently bite to collect salt rather than to defend themselves or to behave aggressively."

Kimsey includes five species of lady beetles, with photos, on her information sheet: 

• Spotless lady beetle, Cycloneda sanguinea
  
• Asian lady beetle, Harmonia axyridis
  
• Seven-spot lady beetle, Coccinella septempunctata
• Two-spot lady beetle, Adalia bipunctata
• Convergent lady beetle, Hippodamia convergens

The five are "mostly distinguished by the extent of white markings on the prothorax and the number of black
spots on the wing covers (elytra)," Kimsey says.

All hail the lady beetles!

Hearty congratulations to two UC Davis scientists, Iris Bright and Megan Ma.

And a rousing double cheer to the National Science Foundation (NSF), and Professor Jason Bond,  the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair in Insect Systematics, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology

Here's what happened:

NSF recently implemented its Research Experience for Post-Baccalaureate Students (REPS) to recognize  “the importance of early-career research experiences, especially for individuals contemplating a career in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) research, and the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused on the career trajectories of undergraduate students who were denied such a research experience."

NSF officials went to point out: "Many undergraduates, who had been planning to participate in research experiences this past year-- whether through Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Sites, REU supplements, or individual arrangements with faculty mentors– found that their host labs or research settings were not able to accommodate them due to restrictions imposed by the pandemic. Students from underrepresented groups and those from schools with no access to research are particularly impacted...”

So it is great news that Iris Bright and Megan Ma, two outstanding young scientists are now part of the REPS program. They're gaining research experience in the Bond laboratory.

“The National Science Foundation put together a new ‘emergency' type of program earlier this year to support students that might have fallen through the cracks in terms of getting research experience due to the pandemic,” commented Bond,  who specializes in the evolutionary diversification of terrestrial arthropods (spiders, millipedes, and tenebrionid beetles). Prior to joining the UC Davis faculty in 2018, he directed the Auburn University Museum of Natural History and chaired Auburn University's Department of Biological Sciences.

Bond obtained supplemental funding from both his NSF grants to support the two young scientists  through the REPS program. “It's great to have Iris and Megan in the lab and potentially add a couple of really exceptional women to our entomology graduate programs, and future professoriate,” Bond said. “The REPS program provides full time employment for Iris and Megan to work in the lab for one year.” 

Both Bright and Ma hope to enroll in graduate school, obtain their doctorates, and become professors. 

Iris Bright

Iris Bright, a fine arts graduate who switched to science, is attending classes at night at Sacramento City College, where she is working toward her associate of science degree in biology and her field ecology certificate to obtain the necessary prerequisites for graduate school in entomology. She received her bachelor of fine arts degree (creative writing and literature)  in the honors program from Emerson College, Boston, Mass., in 2015. 

Bright, who volunteers at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, participated in the 2019 Bohart Belize BioBlitz collection trip, led by two Bohart Museum scientists, Professor Fran Keller of Folsom Lake College, a UC Davis doctoral alumnus, and David Wyatt, professor at . Sacramento City College. 

“This trip was an incredible invertebrate learning experience and it's where I met Dr. Jason Bond,” Bright recalled. “I afterwards was able to become a volunteer at the Bohart working on the Belize Bugs project with the help of Dr. Fran Keller which further enriched the experiences and knowledge I gained in the field.” 

Joining the Bond lab has “really opened doors for me to get hands-on research experience that I was lacking and did not know how to obtain due to being a full-time worker,” she said. She had previously worked full-time at a Sacramento florist business to fund her education. 

Always Interested in Insects. Bright, who grew up in Paradise, Calif., in the Sierra Nevada foothills, said “I can't remember a time when I wasn't interested in insects and everything creepy crawly!” 

“I started my first official bug collection around the age of 7 or 8 and it actually grew to be quite large,” she recalled. “My favorite specimen in the collection was a Banded Alder Borer (long-horned beetle) that my mom and I collected off the parking lot wall of a pet store. We were actually able to create a pretty unique display of the local insect life specific to that region. We also had a few specimens from friends in other states and comparing them to what I grew up seeing was my first foray into biodiversity.” 

 What fascinates her  about entomology? “I am fascinated by the complex inner and outer workings of insects,” Bright said. “They are all around us and contribute so many ecological services that we are still trying to discover. Delving into those mysteries is not only fun but incredibly important especially in our current species die-off. Also. they are beautiful, colorful, and strange looking! Seeing tiny green wasps or purple beetles under a microscope is endlessly exciting.” 

Grandfather Was an Amateur Entomologist. Bright is not the first in her family committed to entomology. “When I first started expressing interest in insects, my mom walked into our basement and pulled out (entomological) supplies, forceps, pins, Schmidt boxes, etc. I was too young to realize that these were not essentials in every home. and later found out that my grandfather had been an ‘amateur' entomologist. My mom would watch him as he pinned (specimens) and started developing her own love for insects  which she was happy to revisit when she saw the same curiosity in me. She definitely instilled an appreciation for all nature in me from a very early age. In a way. I feel that becoming an entomologist will be putting an official title on a family tradition.” 

Bright started working in the Bond lab in early August. “So far, I've been observing/assisting the graduate students with DNA extractions, and learning how to do digital imaging of specimens,” she said. “In the future, maybe Tenebrionidae (darkling beetle) work.” 

She hopes to obtain her doctorate in entomology and become a professor “so I can do further research and also share my passion and interests with the next generations!”  

Megan Ma

Megan is a June 2021 graduate of UC Davis with a bachelor's degree in evolution, ecology and biodiversity and a minor in entomology.  Megan is an accomplished scientific illustrator. 

“I love observing and recreating the colors and textures I see in biology through art,” she said. “I want to use both imaging techniques and systematics to study the function, ecology, and evolution of morphology in terrestrial arthropods, specifically in myriapods and arachnids.” 

As an undergraduate, she worked  in the UC Davis laboratory of Jay Stachowicz, who specializes in marine community ecology. In the Bond lab, she is working on several projects involving wolf spiders, trap door spiders, and millipedes, as well as scientific illustrations. 

First Generation College Student. A first-generation college student, Ma said that attending UC Davis as an undergraduate student and “getting a broad research and teaching experience has been extremely rewarding.” 

“Getting involved in research early on (winter quarter of freshman year) really helped me hone in on what I enjoy about biology,” Ma said. “Some of the research projects I've worked on involve processing salt marsh plant matter for elemental analysis, studying the effects of warming and grazing on eelgrass, identifying marine invertebrates for biodiversity surveys, and using microCT imaging to visualize millipede genitalia development. 

“I've been fortunate to have the opportunity to merge art and biology as an undergrad, as I've worked on the General Biology (BIS2C) laboratory manuals illustrations and taught scientific illustration at the Bodega Marine Laboratory to graduate students and professors. I've also begun to explore imaging techniques (like focus stacking and microCT) for studying spiders and millipedes in the Bond lab. 

Intrigued by Terrestrial Arthropods. Born in Austin, Texas, but a resident of Alhambra, Calif., in the San Gabriel Valley, since age 3, Megan has long been intrigued by terrestrial arthropods (land-dwelling insects and their relatives, such as spiders, tarantulas, scorpions, praying mantids, and millipedes.) 

Her interest in terrestrial arthropods piqued when she enrolled, as a freshman, in an “Introduction to Biology: Biodiversity and the Tree of Life” course, taught by Joel Ledford of the College of Biological Sciences faculty. “This was when I held Rosie The tarantula (at the Bohart Museum of Entomology) for the first time and learned about biology in the context of phylogeny. However, I didn't start rearing terrestrial arthropods until after joining the Bond lab around the end of my third year. Dr. Ledford introduced me to Dr. Bond and I started working as a scientific illustrator and research assistant for the lab with graduate student Xavier Zahnle.” 

“During my first few weeks, Xavier handed me a female flat-backed millipede with black and orange coloring (Polydesmida: Xystodesmidae: Apheloriini),” Ma recalled. “I remember holding her with my bare hands and letting her crawl on my arm. Instead of worrying about potential repugnatory fluid secreting from her ozopores, I was thinking about how harmless she was, how little I knew about her, and how great it would be for me to study her.” 

Millipedes, Tarantulas, Scorpions and Mantids. Ma immediately traveled to the Sacramento Reptile Expo, held that month, “and came home with my first two Florida Ivory millipedes (Chicobolus spinigerus). I knew I was hooked: I started prioritizing entomology courses.” She ended up adding an insect biology minor over other major courses and, in her free time, delved into arthropod husbandry information.  “In the past four years, I've kept a handful of millipedes, several colonies of isopods, tarantulas, scorpions, mantises, and leaf insects. I don't think I can imagine myself without them.” 

What fascinates her about terrestrial arthropods? “Since there is an overwhelming amount of biodiversity yet to be explored, there's always a niche for researchers to fill,” Ma said. “I wasn't paying attention to the terrestrial arthropods around me before joining the lab and taking entomology courses--learning more about them has made me more in-tuned with my surroundings. It makes daily life a little more interesting whenever I come across an arthropod friend on the sidewalk. One of my favorite things to do is come home to see one of my arthropod pets molting. “

Her career plans? “Working in the Bond lab has made me realize I want to continue seeing science through an artistic lens. Eventually, I want to become a professor and researcher at an undergraduate institution. I'd like to use both imaging techniques and systematics to study the function, ecology, and evolution of morphology in terrestrial arthropods, with special interests in millipedes and arachnids. I'd also like to mentor students, especially future women in STEM. I'd like to give back in same way my mentors have--I would not be where I am had they not taken a chance on me.” 

We looking forward to hearing more about these outstanding young scientists and their projects!