“Weird and Wonderful Wasps,” including the Asian giant hornet, aka “murder hornet,” will highlight the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house, set from 1 to 4 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 25 in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus.

The event is free and family friendly. It is the Bohart's first special event of the fall season.

Visitors will learn about the smallest fairy wasps  to the "murder hornets"; what role wasps play in plant galls and figs; and how to distinguish a parasitoid from a parasite.  Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum and a UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology, will discuss the Asian giant hornet, Vespa mandarinia,  dubbed by the news media as “the murder hornet." The Entomological Society of America recently established as its official common name, “northern giant hornet.” 

A single colony of the Asian giant hornet was found and destroyed Sept. 18, 2019 in Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, Canada, and a single dead hornet was found Dec. 8, 2019 in nearby Blaine, Wash. Since then, it also has been sighted-- and destroyed--in both Canada and Washington state.  

Kimsey, an authority on the giant hornet and a two-term past president of the International Society of Hymenopterist, says the insects probably "hitched a ride" in a cargo box shipped from Asia to a North American seaport. The insect is considered the world's largest species of hornet and can reach up to 2 inches in length. A few hornets can destroy a bee colony, decapitating the honey bees, in a matter of hours. 

Kimsey and two other wasp experts published “The Diversity of Hornets in the Genus Vespa (Hymenoptera: Vespidae; Vespinae); Their Importance and Interceptions in the United States,” in the journal Insect Systematics and Diversity in May of 2020. (See https://bit.ly/3BVZ34Y) 

Lead author Allan Smith-Pardo, U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), and co-authors James Carpenter of the American Museum of Natural History's Division of Invertebrate Zoology, and Kimsey covered 22 species of hornets, including V. mandarinia. 

Fairy wasps, which belong to the family of chalcidoid wasps, are tiny insects that include the world's smallest known insect, with a body length of 0.139mm, and the smallest known flying insect, only 0.15mm. All known fairy wasps are parasitoids of the eggs of other insects.  

A family arts-and-crafts activity is also planned at the open house. 

The Bohart Museum is the home of a global collection of eight million insect specimens. It also houses a live “petting zoo,” comprised of Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insects and tarantulas; and a gift shop with insect-themed items. More information is available on the website at https://bohart.ucdavis.edu or by contacting bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.

Assistant professor Nicholas "Nick" Miller of the Department of Biology, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, will present the first-of-the-fall seminars hosted by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, on Wednesday, Sept. 21 when he speaks on "Adaptation in the Cornfield, Research in the Classroom."

His seminar, set for 4:10 p.m. in 122 Briggs Hall, will focus on Diabrotica (cornroot worms). It will be both in-person and via Zoom. The Zoom link: https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/95882849672.

Host is molecular geneticist and physiologist Joanna Chiu, professor and vice chair of the Department of Entomology and Nematology.

"Although they are largely studied because of their economic significance, agricultural pests can be useful model systems to study fundamental biology," Miller says in his abstract. "The beetle genus Diabrotica ("corn rootworms") includes species with generalist and specialist feeding habits that overlap on a common host plant, maize. This makes the genus an excellent system to study the adaptations of insect herbivores with differing host ranges to a common set of plant defenses. A long-standing area of interest in my lab is the adaptations of generalist and specialist Diabrotica species to the maize defensive compound DIMBOA."

"Our interest in Diabrotica biology and evolution has lead naturally to an interest in Diabrotica genomics," Miller related. "Sequencing arthropod genomes is becoming relatively easy but analyzing and understanding those genomes remains hard and labor intensive. The flood of arthropod and other non-model genome sequences represents an opportunity for undergraduates to access research experiences that would otherwise be unavailable."

Research in the Miller lab focuses on the population genetics and evolution of herbivorous insects. "We mostly study species that are pests of agriculture," he says on his website. "Key areas of interest include: adaptation by insect pests to the technologies intended to control them, including genetically-modified crops and pesticides; the interactions of specialist and generalist herbivores to plant defenses; dispersal and movement of insects and the genes they carry."

Miller holds a bachelor's degree and a doctorate from the University of Birmingham. His most recent publication: 

• Rault LC, Siegfried BD, Gassmann AJ, Wang H, Brewer GJ, Miller NJ( 2018). Investigation of Cry3Bb1 resistance and intoxication in western corn rootworm by RNA sequencing. J Appl Entomol. 2018. 1–16. DOI: 10.1111/jen.12502

Emily Meineke, assistant professor of urban landscape entomology, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, coordinates the department's seminars for the 2022-23 academic year. All 11 seminars will take place both person and virtually at 4:10 p.m. on Wednesdays in Room 122 of Briggs Hall except for the Nov. 9th and Dec. 7th seminars, which will be virtual only, she said.  (See list of seminars)

For further information on the seminars or technical difficulties with Zoom, contact Meineke at ekmeineke@ucdavis.edu. 

Thirteen UC Davis scientists or former affiliates are among authors from eight countries who contributed to research articles for the Journal of Economic Entomology's Special Collection: Research Advances in Spotted-Wing Drosophila suzukii Management. The Special Collection, published in the August 2022 edition, showcases 14 articles.

Native to Asia, the agricultural pest is a worldwide threat to the berry production industry, which includes raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, and cherries. The tiny insect, about 1/12 to 1/8 inch long, invaded the continental United States in 2008. 

“All of the papers were by invitation of the co-editors of the special collection—Jana Lee, Cesar Rodrigue-Saona, and me,” said journal editor-in-chief Frank Zalom, a UC Davis distinguished professor emeritus and recall professor in the Department of Entomology and Nematology. Zalom's research includes the spotted-wing drosophila.

Lee, formerly with the UC Davis laboratory of the late chemical ecologist Steve Seybold, is a research entomologist with the Horticultural Crops Research Unit,  U. S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Corvallis. Rodriguez-Saona, who received his doctorate from UC Riverside, is an Extension entomologist with the Department of Entomology, Rutgers University, the State University of New Jersey.

In addition to Zalom and Lee, the UC Davis-linked authors include Joanna Chiu and Antoine Abrieux (Joanna Chiu lab); Zain Syed and Kevin Cloonan (Walter Leal lab); Gregory Loeb (Rick Karban lab); and Kelly Hamby, Hannah Burrack, Fatemeh Ganjisaffar, Brian Gress, Nicole Nicola and Mark Demkovich (Zalom lab).

Overall, the Special Collection includes authors from Austria, Brazil, Canada, Italy, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States that represent perspectives from universities, federal and state laboratories, growers, and pest product companies, according to the editors. 

One paper, Spatio-temporal Variation of Spinosad Susceptibility in Drosophila suzukii (Diptera: Drosophilidae), a Three-year Study in California's Monterey Bay Region, is from the Zalom lab and includes co-author, molecular geneticist and physiologist Joanna Chiu, professor and vice chair of the Department of Entomology and Nematology. 

UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology communication specialist Kathy Keatley Garvey provided the cover photo of the spotted-wing drosophila feeding on a raspberry.

Since 2008, "D. suzukii has become a key economical pest of raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, and cherries in the United States and worldwide," the editors wrote in their introductory remarks. "Not surprisingly, the number of publications has proliferated from 29 publications as of 2010 to 978 additional publications between 2011 and 2021 from a Web of Science search for ‘Drosophila suzukii.' While many publications are available, this special collection will highlight advances in D. suzukii pest management since its U.S. invasion. We solicited papers by open call and received 66 abstracts, and selected 14 papers covering: 1) review, 2) monitoring and risk, 3) behavioral control, 4) biological control, 5) cultural control, and 6) chemical control."

The editors pointed out that “Given that 14 years of research has accumulated since the continental U.S. invasion, it was fitting to include two reviews that provide a different scope than was covered in prior reviews on D. suzukii biological control (Lee et al. 2019, Wang et al. 2020), trapping (Burrack et al. 2020), cultural control (Schöneberg et al. 2021), and chemical ecology (Cloonan et al. 2018). This special collection is anchored by Tait et al. (2021), a review of the most promising methods as part of an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategy against D. suzukii across the world since 2008. The effectiveness, impact, sustainability, and present stage of development and implementation are discussed for each of the considered techniques, and insights for continued development are presented.”

“A second review in this special collection by Garcia et al. (2022) summarizes the history and current status of D. suzukii in Latin America. The authors first provide a history of the D. suzukii invasion through Latin American countries, which started in 2011 in Mexico, and is now present in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay. They describe the host plants where D. suzukii has been found as well as advances in monitoring, biological control, chemical control, cultural control, and in the sterile insect technique. The authors posit that this information can serve as the basis for developing sustainable area-wide management programs in Latin America.”

The researchers related that the pest is a significant threat to California's berry production industry, which the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) valued at more than $2.8 billion in 2019. Caneberries, in particular, "are a preferred host of D. suzukii, and California accounts for 89.4 percent of all production in the United States, with the Monterey Bay region producing about half of the state's raspberries and blackberries (CDFA 2020). This pest has now spread to all major berry and cherry growing areas of the United States."

The collection is meant to serve "as a key reference point for entomologists across many institutions (e.g., academia, government, and industry) on important advances in D. suzukii pest management," according to the Entomological Society of America. "The articles in this collection will also provide scientists information on potential research gaps that will help guide future research directions on this important pest. The goal is to preserve and catalog articles on various aspects of D. suzukii pest management, i.e., monitoring, cultural control, chemical control, behavioral control, and biological control, that will be shared among entomologists."  

Internationally recognized entomologist Melody Keena, a UC Davis alumna, a research entomologist with the U.S. Forest Service's Northern Research Station in Hamden, Conn., and a newly selected Honorary Member of the 7000-member ESA--the organization's highest honor--attributes "fence lizards" that she reared during her California childhood with sparking her interest in entomology.

“They eat live insects so I had to find them,” said Keena, who was born in the Los Angeles area but moved at age 4 to Chico and then to Paradise as a teenager.  “We fed them any insects we could find, since store-bought were too expensive.  We fed them mostly crickets and grasshoppers.  I also reared some mealworms at home for the winter.” 

An international expert on the biology and behavior of the spongy moth (formerly known as the gypsy moth) and the Asian longhorned beetle, Keena focuses her research on “developing the knowledge and tools needed for exclusion, eradication or control of non-native invasive forest pests and investigating basic biology, behavior, and population genetics,” according to the ESA officials who announced her Honorary Membership.

Keena initially chose to attend UC Davis because of its renowned School of Veterinary Medicine. An entomology course changed her plans. "I had taken a non-majors entomology class and liked it, so I took the first majors course and told myself that if I got an A in it that would be my major.  Then I did work study, helping in entomology labs so I was exposed to research.  That led me to do the masters to see if research was for me.  Obviously, I got hooked on entomology."

Keena holds three degrees in entomology from UC Davis:  a bachelor's degree obtained in 1983, a master's, 1985, and a doctorate in 1988. Professor Jeff Granett served as her major professor for both her graduate degrees. A former chair of the department, Granett retired as an emeritus professor in 2006. 

At UC Davis, Keena worked on spider mite pesticide resistance management in the almond cropping system. After receiving her doctorate, she headed to Connecticut as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Connecticut. She's served as a research entomologist with the U.S. Forest Service inHamden since 1992 and is now the lead scientist in the lab.  

In a letter of support for her Honorary Member nomination, Frank Zalom, UC Davis distinguished professor, president of ESA in 2014, and an Honorary Member of ESA since 2021, said he has known Keena since 1983 when she "became a graduate student at UC Davis." He also served with her on a number of ESA committees. 

"Melody is an internationally known researcher on biology and control of non-native forest insect pests with the US Forest Service, and has gained a number of significant accolades for her research and leadership," Zalom wrote. "Her CV illustrates the breadth and quality of her journal articles that present important biological studies of many of the most notorious invasive forest insects in North America this century. What sets Melody apart from other outstanding entomology researchers in my experience is the quantity, quality and impact of her service to our Society over her almost 40 years as an ESA member." 

Zalom wrote that "Melody has served the Eastern Branch as member or chair of at least eight of its committees (in many cases multiple times) over the last 30 years....Melody has also taken top leadership roles in ESA Section governance." She was secretary, vice chair, and chair of Section B from 2005-07, and then past president of its successor, the Integrative Physiological and Molecular Insect Systems Section, which is now the Physiology, Biochemistry and Toxicology (PBT) Section. She served as PBT Section's elected Governing Board Representative from 2009-11. 

Program Co-Chair of 2014 ESA Meeting. "As an active ESA member and volunteer myself during this time," Zalom wrote, "I was impressed with Melody's outstanding leadership and organizational skills as well as, for lack of a better term, her good ideas." After Zalom's election as ESA vice president-elect, he invited her to become Program Committee co-chair for the 2014 ESA Annual Meeting in Portland, Ore. "I will forever be grateful to Melody that she accepted my invitation. Program Chair is one of the most difficult and time-consuming ESA volunteer positions. It is a three-year commitment as organizer for the student paper competition in the first year, the entire program in the second year, and then the poster competition in the third year. Melody did an exceptional job of organization, and she was the perfect complement to Sue Blodgett who was her co-chair."

Zalom pointed out: "Melody proposed and implemented several new ideas that have been adopted by subsequent ESA program committees including a new program category she called ‘organized meetings' that enabled participants in these frequently held ‘meetings-within-a-meeting' to make presentations that would not be counted against the per person presentation limits. Because of the increasing attendance at ESA Annual Meetings (the 2013 and 2014 annual meetings were the most well-attended annual meetings to that time), it was crucial that a limit on author submission be established, but that it be done in a manner sufficiently flexible to accommodate member networking. Melody's superb organizational skills led to new methods for tracking the student competitions that have since become institutionalized. I attribute the success of the 2014 Annual Meeting to Melody and Sue's enthusiasm, great ideas and superior organization of the program."

Keena has directed and mentored graduate students in their research as an adjunct, taught biology and ecology courses to business majors, and maintains several international collaborations. She has published 101 refereed papers or book chapters, presented 88 invited presentations (including keynote addresses to international entomological societies), and contributed an additional 125 presentations.

Excerpts from ESA website:

• "Dr. Keena has been an active member of ESA, the Eastern Branch, and the Physiology, Biochemistry and Toxicology Section (formerly Section B, Integrative Physiological and Molecular Insect Systems) for 39 years (for the last 5 years also a member of Plant-Insect Ecosystems Section). She has presented, invited, or contributed talks at 34 ESA Annual Meetings and organized four symposia. She was encouraged by a supervisor to get involved in the Society in the early 1990s and has continued to be involved in one or more ways every year since. In the Eastern Branch she has served on and chaired several Branch committees including employment, finance, registration, auditing, resolutions, program, and student competition. She also served as the elected member-at-large on the Eastern Branch Executive Committee. While serving on the student competition committee, she developed improved judging sheets."
  
  
• "Her national committee service includes: membership (1997-99, chair last two years), finance (2002-07), program (2007, 2013-2015, co-chair last year), strategic planning (1999), technology (in 2004 helping premiere the first digital presentations and 2016 for the International Congress of Entomology), honors and awards (2009-11), systematic resources (2001-03), and presidential committees. While serving on the membership committee, she successfully presented proposals to start the family and transitional membership categories to the Governing Board. During her years on the finance committee, the Society went through turbulent times dealing with more than one executive director and the sale of ESA's office building to improve its finances. At the very successful 2015 annual meeting, she and her program co-chair developed the concept of organized meetings for groups regularly meeting with ESA and determined that presentations made in these meetings should not count against the conference presentation limit. As student competition co-chairs in 2014, they developed improved methods for tracking the student competitions. At the Section level, Keena was secretary, vice-chair, chair, and past chair of Section B (2005-08) and was subsequently elected as Governing Board representative (2009-11) for the newly named Physiology, Biochemistry, and Toxicology section during the section reorganization."
  
  
• "Dr. Keena served as a member and chair of the editorial board for the Journal of Integrated Pest Management (2011-2015), a physiological ecology subject editor for Environmental Entomology (2015–2019), and is currently co-editor-in-chief for Environmental Entomology (2019-present). As co-editor-in-chief of the journal, she has instituted the annual Reviewer's and People's Choice Awards, improved the diversity of the subject editor pool, overseen the creation of the very successful special collection on the spotted lanternfly, developed a new subject area and updated descriptions of the sections, and took the lead in creating an organized meeting for the journal (along with the Journal of Economic Entomology) at the ESA Annual Meetings where the award winners present an invited talk and the co-editors-in-chief can interact with members about the journals."
  
  
• "Throughout her career, Dr. Keena has encouraged many members and students to get involved in the Society, including actively participating in the Women in Entomology breakfasts, and she sees this as a critical part of any successful scientist's role in giving back to the Society and passing on the passion for entomology to the next generation."

Honorary Membership acknowledges those who have served ESA for at least 20 years through "significant involvement in the affairs of the society that has reached an extraordinary level," according to the selection criteria. Candidates are selected by the ESA Governing Board and then voted on by the ESA membership.

This year ESA selected three as Honorary Members. In addition to Keena:

• Walter Soares Leal, UC Davis distinguished professor with the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology and a former chair of the Department of Entomology (now the Department of Entomology and Nematology) (See UC Davis news story)
• Research entomologist Alvin Simmons of the USDA Agricultural Research Service.

With the addition of UC Davis distinguished professor Leal, ESA has now singled out six UC Davis faculty members as recipients of its highest award.  Distinguished professor Frank Zalom received Honorary Member in 2021; Professor W. Harry Lange (1912-2004) in 1990; Professor and 1984 ESA President Donald MacLean (1928-2014), in 1993; Professor Bruce Eldridge in 1996, and Professor John Edman in 2001.