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 The 2026 "Beer-for-a-Butterfly" contest, aka "Suds for a Bug," is still underway. No one has come forth.UC Davis Distinguished Professor Emeritus Art Shapiro, who has sponsored the contest since 1972, will trade your live cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae, for a pitcher of beer, or its equivalent…

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced the Environmental Education Grant Program, which supports locally and regionally focused environmental education projects that promote environmental stewardship and build environmental knowledge among students, educators, and community members. This…

 "Did you know that in one acre of almond orchard there can be more earthworms than the entire population of Los Angeles? What are they doing down there?"So asks Amanda Hodson, assistant professor of soil ecology and pest management, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematolgy, who will present a…

 Talk about a slugfest.Slugs took a liking to the milkweed in our pollinator garden. They stripped the leaves from one tender young plant and were munching on two other plants--until we dispatched them. We don't think they crossed the Rainbow Bridge. If they did, they left a slimy trail."Sorry,…

 We have a winner!Drum roll...the winner of the 2026 Robbin Thorp Memorial First-Bumble-Bee-of-the-Year Contest, sponsored by the Bohart Museum of Entomology is Lesley Hamamoto of Sacramento.She photographed a black-tailed bumble bee, Bombus melanopygus, nectaring on manzanita at  9…

 Bruce Hammock, 1947-2026.I never thought I'd write that. UC Davis Distinguished Professor Bruce Hammock was an amazing scientist--a genius, really--an incredible mentor, and a good friend. He passed on Monday, Jan. 5, at age 78, and the world will never be the same.When I visited his office…

 Friday, Jan. 9 is the deadline to register for the two long-awaited workshops: The Science of Honey Tasting and The Science of Mead Tasting.Coordinated by the California Master Beekeeper Program (CAMBP), based at the University of California, Davis, and Z Food Specialty/The HIVE, Woodland, both of the…

 Doctoral candidate Mia Lippey of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, an outstanding scholar and self-described "life-long lover of all things insect-related," is looking forward to delivering her exit seminar.An entomologist and ecologist active in both the Entomological Society…

 New Year's Day is not only the beginning of a year, but it's also the beginning of two UC Davis insect contests: one involving a cabbage white butterfly, and the other, a bumble bee.Chances are no one won either one today, as it's been raining almost non-stop, and the 10-day forecast predicts an 80…

 2025: Celebrating a Year of Bloom, Stewardship and Growing Community Impact"This year at the UC Davis Bee Haven, the garden blossomed with vibrant growth and renewal, reflected not only in the flourishing landscape but also in the increasing engagement and enthusiasm of the many visitors discovering…

 A new cockroach in town?That's what a UC Davis retired professor thought on Tuesday, Dec. 23 when he spotted an unusual cockroach emerging from his shower drain at his Davis home.He said he "recognized  it as unusual and caught it. It was a male Turkestan cockroach, Blatta lateralis, a species…

 Suds for a bug. A butterfly for a beer...If you find and collect the first cabbage white butterfly in the three-county area of Sacramento, Yolo and Solano, and you are judged the winner of the annual "Beer for a Butterfly" Contest, you will receive a pitcher of beer or its equivalent.And bragging…

 Don't tumble, fumble or crumble when you see a "bumble."Hold your camera steady. Starting Jan. 1, if you photograph or video a bumble bee in the two-county area of Solano and Yolo, and if you're judged the winner, you will win the sixth annual Robbin Thorp Memorial First-Bumble Bee-of-the-Year…

 Santa sleighed us.The jolly ol' man parked his reindeer on our roof on Christmas Eve, slipped down the chimney, and what to his wondering eyes should appear--but a very territorial tuxedo cat named Miss Sarah Sylvia Cynthia Stout that hissed at him.Santa eyed the cat and the brass grasshopper ornaments…

 The annual Yule blog...Back in 2010, UC Cooperative Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen (1944-2022) of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and yours truly, department communications specialist, wondered why no insects appear in "The Twelve Days of ChristmasZero. Zilch…

  Remember Cole Cramer and Connor Hsu, the two Southern California insect enthusiasts who met as pre-teens at the 2022 Bio Boot Camp at UC Davis? They became fast friends, joined professional entomological societies, and formed a youth entomology group, the Lorquin Society…

 Are you hanging out beneath the mistletoe? Or know someone who is? Maybe Mommy kissing Santa Claus?Scales and ants may be hanging out, too.The two insects maintain a classic mutualistic symbiosis in which ants "farm" scale insects for their sweet honeydew.  It's a beneficial arrangement: scales…

 The UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology today published its 2025 "News in Review," with a message from the administration--Joanna Chiu, professor and department chair, and Rachel Vannette, professor and vice chair--and featuring highlights of the year."We recognize our roots," the…

 The "Lost Science" column of the New York Times recently focused on Jenny Carlson Donnelly, a UC Davis doctoral alumna who lost her job earlier this year as a Malaria Outbreak Emergency Advisor for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) due to Trump administration cuts.USAID,…