Test PB Collection: FTE

Do you recognize the native bee that graces the cover of the current edition of California Agriculture, a peer-reviewed journal published by the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources? Yes, it's a carpenter bee.

So, you spot a bug crawling up and down a plant in your garden. What is it? Plant bug. Plant bug? No kidding. The common name for certain members of the Miridae family is--you guessed it--"plant bug.

Now here's something that will tick you off. You're taking photos of bumble bees and honey bees in tall grass near a wooded area, minding your own ISO, shutter speed and aperture. All's well with the world.

They're up and at it long before the honey bees. Before dawn breaks, you'll see the tiny bees gathering nectar and pollen in squash, pumpkins and other cucurbits. They're squash bees (Peponapis pruinosa), sometimes called the plush bee.

When you look at the tiny unassuming walnut twig beetle--it's smaller than a grain of rice--you wonder how it could possibily kill a majestic black walnut tree. By itself, it can't. But when it's associated with a specific fungus that hitchhikes on the beetle, were talking serious problems.

The Baxter House is no more. The UC Davis Fire Department burned it down yesterday. It's gone, along with assorted black widow spiders, scattered crane flies, munchkin termites and maybe a meandering ant or wandering fly or two. (After all, this is a "bug" blog.

The honey bee hive is not all sweetness. The first virgin queen bee to emerge from her cell (each queen cell resembles a peanut shell) will rid the colony of her competition. After emerging, the queen makes a mark on the other queen cells.

The bees are dropping like flies--in swimming pools all over northern California during this triple-digit heat wave. Honey bees collect water to aircondition their hive. They sip from bird baths, dripping faucets, water-splashed plants and even wet laundry hanging on the line.

A trip today to Marin County, with a side trip to the Marshall Post Office in Marshall, yielded a triple bonus. A bumble bee, a honey bee, and a syrphid or flower fly all were nectaring flowers on the post office grounds, located right across from a restaurant and marina we were visiting.

It's National Pollinator Week, and what a perfect time to welcome native pollinator specialist Neal Williams to the UC Davis Department of Entomology faculty. He's actually no stranger to UC Davis. He's been collaborating with researchers at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr.