Iris Quayle, first-year doctoral student in the Jason Bond lab, won the doctoral presentation competition at the PBESA meeting. It was her very first presentation at a scientific meeting. (Photo by Lisa Chamberland)

But when she began delivering her first-ever presentation at a scientific conference, “I found it quite fun to present my work and see people's excitement.” 

Quayle, a first-year doctoral student in the Jason Bond lab, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, went on to win first place in the doctoral student competition at the annual meeting of the Pacific Branch, Entomological Society of America (PBESA), held recently in Seattle. The organization encompasses 11 Western states, plus Canada, Mexico and U.S. territories.

Quayle discussed her research, “Colorless but Never Dull: Unraveling Population Genetics and Color Evolution in ‘White' Darkling Beetles (Onymacris).” 

“It was a really great conference with a lot of interesting talks,” Quayle said, “so I feel very honored to have placed first in the Ph.D student competition.” 

“Iris has hit the ground running in all respects," said Bond, the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair in Insect Systematics, Department of Entomology and Nematology, and associate dean, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. "Winning the student paper award, the first time ever presenting her research, reflects her exceptional capabilities as a scientist and as a future professor and teacher. Iris comes from a non-traditional STEM background and it is exactly those experiences that will continue to contribute to her success as she evolves as a scientist. I predict that this is only a prelude of things to come.”

Quayle is focusing her dissertation on the evolutionary relationships and color/trait evolution in Onymacris. “This genus displays a lot of phenotypically and behaviorally charismatic traits and I am excited for my dissertation research to expand and grow in the next few years,” she said. 

In her talk, Quayle noted that Tenebrionidae (darkling beetles) comprise “more than 80 percent of all known beetle species in the Namib, where the genus Onymacris contains a rarity unexpected from aptly named darkling beetles--the presence of several species with striking ‘white' elytra (wing sheaths).” 

“A known history of hybridization, strong inclination towards polytypic taxa, and paraphyletic status with another genus reveals that coloration and speciation in Onymacris is anything but straightforward,” said Quayle, who is examining “the phylogenetic relationships between white Onymacris species to determine whether multiple derivations of pure white elytra is due to convergence or introgression.” 

This is the white darkling beetle, a bicolor Onymacris species, that Iris Quayle studies. (Photo courtesy of Iris Quayle)

In her population genomic analysis, Quayle extracted DNA from all white Onymacris, using additional specimens for the four species with the largest geographical ranges (O. marginipennis, O. bicolor, O. candidipennis, O. langi cornelii). 

“Studying the population structure and genomic components leading to white coloration highlights behavioral and ecological adaptations of organisms to an arid environment which is increasingly vital in the face of global trends towards aridity,” she told the group. 

Quayle fielded several questions about the potential ecological pressures that may be driving diverse coloration. She noted that the darkest of white species (O. marginipennis which is brown and striped) is found primarily on vegetated hummocks, while all white species (O. candidipennis and O. bicolor) are found only on sandy coastal dunes with no vegetation. 

Quayle served a year as a National Science Foundation Research Experience for Post-Baccalaureate Students (NSF-REPS) in the Bond lab before being accepted into the doctoral program in 2022.  “I'm so grateful that I've been able to start this work early in my first year as a Ph.D. student,” she said. 

Quayle, who grew up in Paradise, Calif., holds an associate of science degree in biology from Sacramento City College.  Formerly known as Iris Bright, she received her bachelor of fine arts degree (creative writing and literature) in the honors program from Emerson College, Boston, Mass., in 2015 before switching to science.  Fascinated with insects in her early childhood, she began collecting specimens at age 7. Her grandfather was an amateur entomologist. 

Her career plans? Becoming a professor “so I can do further research and also share my passion and interests with the next generations!”  

Research associate Christopher Mayack of the USDA's Agricultural Research Service.

His seminar is set for 4:10 p.m., Wednesday, April 12 in 122 Briggs Hall. It also will be virtual. The Zoom link:
https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/95882849672

"Parasitic infections, pesticide exposures, and lack of nutrition are thought to interact to cause synergistic declines in honey bee health," Mayack says in his abstract. "First, I will demonstrate how disease can lead to altered behavior that is linked to the honey bee‚ a highly social nature that results in its inability to buffer against energetic stress. Then I will discuss how environmental chemical exposure biomarker profiles (fingerprints) can be used to predict presence of the most common honey bee diseases and how the two are likely interact along metabolic pathways, which is likely to be key in explaining the underlying mechanisms responsible for synergistic declines in honey bee health."

"Lastly, I will present how a systems biology approach coupled with long term monitoring of bee health will be a central powerful tool, moving forward, for unraveling the mystery that surrounds identifying the specific mechanistic causes of global bee health declines."

New Scientist featured him in its April 28, 2021 edition in an article headlined: "Honeybees Stress Each Other Out by Warning about Minor Parasites."

"A one-celled fungus called Nosema ceranae can infect the guts of individual bees, causing a disease called nosemosis," wrote science journalist Christa Lesté-Lasserre. "Similar to tapeworm infections in humans, nosemosis apparently makes bees hungrier and reduces their resistance to pesticides and probably viruses, but it isn't particularly fatal. Yet, nosemosis is one of the top reasons honeybee populations are declining."

She wrote that Mayack, then of Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania, "suspected this might have something to do with how the fungus affects the bees' social structures."

Mayack, who joined the USDA-ARS in August of 2022, holds a bachelor's degree in biology (2007) from the State University of New York, Geneseo, and a doctorate in zoology (2012) from Colorado State University. He wrote his dissertation on “Behavioral Alteration in the Honeybee Due to Parasite-induced Energetic Stress.” Mayack served as a 2012-2014 Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellow at the Zoology Institute, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany.

His research interests include systems biology, improving honey bee health, animal physiology, animal behavior, parasite-host interactions, neurobiology, effects of aging, evolution of social behavior, regulation of appetite and energetic homeostasis, and metabolomics/exposomics.

Seminar coordinator is Emily Meineke, urban landscape entomologist and assistant professor. See the list of spring seminars here. For technical issues (Zoom), contact Meineke at ekmeineke@ucdavis.edu.

Project scientist James Starrett of Jason Bond lab

Professor Jason Bond, Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair

In lekking, certain species of males in the animal world, including black grouse, peacock and owl parrots, congregate in a courtship ritual to entice females to mate with them. This is unusual because spiders are notoriously solitary and cannibalistic. 

Jason Bond, the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and project scientist James Starrett headed the genetic analysis. The research paper was recently published in the journal, Insect Systematics and Diversity.

“This paper is significant in a number of respects including the discovery of a new species of orb web-weaving spider that is social; most spiders are solitary predators that are cannibalistic,” said Bond, who doubles as associate dean, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. “Although additional behavioral studies are needed to confirm, what is particularly interesting about this paper is that we report what is likely the first known observation of lekking behavior in spiders.”

The paper, “Discovery and Genetic Characterization of Single Cohort Adult Colonies With Male Aggregations, and Preliminary Evidence for Lekking in a Malagasy Kite Spider (Isoxya, Gasteracanthinae),” is drawing worldwide attention, including a piece, “Spider Solidarity: Scientists Discover New Species With Unprecedented Social Behavior,” in Entomology Today, a publication of the 7000-member Entomological Society of America.

Ingi Agnarsson, a professor of zoology at the University of Iceland and the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., headed the international team of researchers.

While looking for bark spiders in the rainforests of Andasibe-Mantadia National Park, the scientists observed large colonies of interconnected webs, built by what they later determined to be a new species.

In examining the webs,  the researchers noticed multiple males gathering close together, sometimes touching, in a central, nonsticking line.  They counted up to 41 interconnected, single-cohort adult female webs with up to 38 adult males aggregating on a central, single, nonsticky line.

In all, their mile-long research area yielded 22 spider colonies, ranging from 2 to 79 spiders in webs two inches to almost eight inches in size.  The spiders are dark gray with black coloring and large protruding spines. The females are about 0.2 inches in size, with “cryptic yellow markings.” The males are smaller but with no yellow markings.

They named the new species Isoxya manangona, derived from the Malagasy verb for “gather” or “aggregate.” 

“Spiders are notoriously solitary and cannibalistic, with instances of colonial or social lifestyles in only about 50-60, or ~0.1% of 50,000 described species,” the authors wrote in their abstract. “Population analyses indicate that most colonies consist of multiple cohorts formed by close relatives. Territorial social spiders facultatively form colonies by interlinking individual webs, but further cooperation is infrequent, and only among juveniles or (rarely) females. In spiders therefore, aggregations of males outside of the male-male competition context has been unknown.” 

The researchers noted that the males were “resting tightly together,” but they found “no evidence” of male-male aggression. “Genetic analyses from RAD sequencing suggest that most colonies consist of unrelated individuals,” they wrote in their abstract. “Furthermore, genetic variability of males was somewhat less than that of females. Single cohort colonies made up purely of adults, and peaceful male aggregations, have not previously been observed in spiders. Although direct behavioral observations are preliminary, we speculate based on the available evidence that these colonies may represent a novel and first case of lekking in spiders.”

Since it was near the end of the field season, the researchers had no opportunity for more observations, and never witnessed mating.

Other co-authors of the paper are Zachary Babbitz of Boston College, Matjaž Gregoric of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Onjaherizo Christian Raberahona of the University of Madagascar; Steven Williams, Oxford Brookes University, UK, and Matjaž Kuntner of the Smithsonian Institution. 

Starrett, who joined the Bond lab in 2018, holds a doctorate in genetics, genomics and bioinformatics from UC Riverside. He is a former postdoctoral fellow (2016-2018) in the Jason Bond lab at Auburn University. Professor Bond joined the UC Davis faculty in 2018 from Auburn University, where he directed its Museum of Natural History (2011–2016),  and served as professor and chair of the Auburn Department of Biological Sciences (2016–2018).  

American cockroaches from the Bob Kimsey lab are ready to race in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology's cockroach races. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Forensic entomologist Robert "Bob" Kimsey and doctoral student Grace Horne of the lab of urban landscape entomologist Emily Meineke are busily coordinating the Department of Entomology and Nematology's activities and displays for the 109th annual UC Davis Picnic Day, set Saturday, April 15.

 The "bug" exhibits will be at two sites:

• Briggs Hall, home of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, Kleiber Hall Drive, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and
• Bohart Museum of Entomology, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Theme of the Bohart Museum will be "Bugs, Boom, Bang!" The insect museum, directed by UC Davis distinguished professor Lynn Kimsey, houses a global collection of eight million insect specimens, a live "petting zoo" (including Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insects and tarantulas).

Cockroach races are among the popular activities at Briggs Hall. The roaches will run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on a specially made race track in front of the building. These are American cockroaches, Periplaneta americana, from a colony kept by the late UC Davis entomology emeritus professor, Charles Judson (1926-2015). Bob Kimsey, who doubles as the advisor of the UC Davis Entomology Club, maintains the roach colony. The athletes, he said, "are ready to race." 

The roach races involve a roach track, an air pump (to get the roaches moving), volunteers, and spectators. Sometimes a roach jumps from the track and lands on scurrying feet.  

The line-up of entomological events at Briggs Hall also includes:

Bug Doctor
Briggs Hall Entryway
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Meet an entomologist and talk about insects! Bring an insect from your garden to identify.  

Maggot Art
Briggs Hall Courtyard
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Create maggot art by dipping a live maggot into water-based, non-toxic paint. Voila! Art suitable or framing (or at least a spot on the refrigerator door

Dr. Death
Room 122 of Briggs Hall
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Forensic entomologist Robert Kimsey will display and discuss his work. 

Entomology at UC Davis
Room 122 of Briggs Hall
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Displays of insects, including bees, ants and more
Graduate students, faculty and emeriti will staff the tables

Scavenger Hunt
Room 122 of Briggs Hall
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
There will be several drawers of insects that people can look through to see if they can spot the insects on the check list

Fly-Tying
Briggs Hall courtyard
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Fly Fishers of Davis will show you how to tie a fly.

Insect-Themed T-shirt Sales
Briggs Hall entryway
9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Members of the Entomology Graduate Student Association (EGSA) will be selling popular insect-themed t-shirts, including "The Beetles" 

Mosquito Control
Briggs Hall entrance
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control District will be providing information on mosquitoes and how to protect yourself

Other Creepy Crawlies
122 Briggs Hall
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
UC Davis doctoral candidate Emma Jochim of the Jason Bond lab and others will display live arachnids, myriapods, tarantulas, scorpions, millipedes and more 

UC  Statewide Integrated Pest Management (UC IPM) 
Briggs Hall Courtyard
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Learn about pests and how to control them from UC IPM scientists. The staff will be giving away lady beetles, aka ladybugs.

The UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center, headed by director Amina Harris and affiliated with the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, will host a honey tasting from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the courtyard of Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, 392 Old Davis Road. "Come taste and learn about UC Davis honey and honey varietals from North America," she said. "Honey available for purchase."

The UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology is chaired by nematologist and professor Steve Nadler. Molecular geneticist-physiologist and professor Joanna Chiu serves as the vice chair.