Agriculture

Butterfly heaven! Entomologist Jeff Smith, who curates the butterfly and moth collection at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, UC Davis, is in butterfly heaven.

"Just call it a "Day of Insect Art!" Sunday afternoon, Jan. 21 promises to be a day of inspiration, creativity and delight when the Bohart Museum of Entomology hosts an open house, "Bug-Art@The Bohart" from 1 to 4 p.m. in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, Crocker Lane.

Bug-Art@The Bohart" will set the theme for the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house from 1 to 4 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 21 in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, Crocker Lane.

The UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology is gearing up for a plethora of seminars for the winter quarter--ranging from understanding insect behavior to understanding biodiversity. The department launched the seminars Wednesday, Jan.

The Bruce Hammock lab, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Zagazig, Egypt, will receive a three-year $190,000 grant to screen for pesticide contamination in foods in Egypt. Research begins March 1.

How appropriate are many of the common names of insects! Take the immature form (caterpillar) of the moth, Schizura concinna, family Notodontidae. We first spotted this caterpillar on our Western redbud tree (Cercis occidentalis) in September 2010. It has a red hump.

California farmers Fong Tchieng and Vang C. Thao have a lot in common. They both have farming operations in the Central Valley. They both belong to the state's vibrant and growing Hmong farming community.

Most ranchers track production pounds of calves or lambs sold, seasonal gain on stocker cattle or feeder lambs, or pounds of wool shorn are all measures of ranch productivity.

Take it from the bee scientists. Honey is NOT vomit. That incongruous belief that Honey is bee vomit is resurfacing on a number of YouTube channels, opinion pieces and other Internet posts.

Over the past year and a half, I have been conducting research and extension with weedy (red) rice (Oryza sativa L.), which has re-emerged as a pest in California rice fields. What makes this plant so interesting is that it is the exact same species as cultivated rice (also Oryza sativa L.).