Bug Squad

09/05/2026

It's "Fly Day Friday"--or "Friday Fly Day!"

That's when entomologists or bug enthusiasts post images of flies on their social media accounts or on Flickr.

Today, a drone fly, Eristalinus taenliops, a species of hoverfly from Africa that resembles a honey bee, appeared again in our pollinator garden. Yay!

This fly, with its mesmerizing zebra-like eyes, is also known as "the striped-eye lagoon fly," "striped-eyed flower fly," and "band-eyed drone fly." In its adult stage, it's a pollinator. In its larval stage, it's a rat-tailed maggot.

What's the origin of the genus name? It's a diminutive form of Eristalis, the genus of hoverflies known as "drone flies" because they closely mimic the appearance of drone honey bees. The root word Eristalis originally referred to an unknown precious stone in New Latin.

And the species? This translates directly to "ribbon-eyed" or "band-eyed." It is a combination of the Greek words tainia (meaning ribbon or band) and ops (meaning eye).

See video at

https://ucanr.edu/blog/bug-squad/article/find-fly-friday

09/04/2026

Mark your calendar: you'll want to attend the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house on Sunday, Sept. 20.

It's from 1 to 4 p.m. in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis, and it's free and family friendly.

"Beetlelady" Stephanie Dole, a UC Davis alumna, veteran science educator and a newly published children's book author (www.beetlelady.com), will be tabling at the open house.

She's an entomologist known for captivating audiences of all ages with her enthusiasm and knowledge of insects. She brings the world of bugs to life through engaging, hands-on educational class and experiences, such as her Pop-Up Bug Museum.

Dole holds a bachelor's degree in entomology from UC Davis (2003) and a doctorate in entomology from Michigan State University (2008). As an undergraduate at UC Davis, she worked at the Bohart Museum under the direction of then museum director, UC Davis Distinguished Professor (now emerita) Lynn Kimsey.

"I started as a volunteer in 2000 and then became a student employee while I was an undergraduate at UC Davis," Dole said.

She has been educating the public about insects since 1997.

Dole's research on the diversity of tropical bark beetles uncovered new species and gave her the opportunity to work in the rain forests of Ecuador, Thailand, and Guyana. "I have a special interest in how bugs have influenced science fiction and show us how 'alien' life on Earth can be," she said.
https://ucanr.edu/blog/bug-squad/article/bohart-bugs-and-beetlelady

09/03/2026

Who am I?

In her children's book--"Am I Even a Bee?"--UC Davis bee researcher Felicity Muth, associate professor in the Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, College of Biological Sciences, writes about an Osmia bee, aka orchard mason bee, that wonders if she is a bee.

Well, a visitor to our pollinator garden today looked like a honey bee, acted like a honey bee, and mimicked a honey bee, but...drum roll...is not a honey bee.

It never will be a honey bee, even an honorary bee. Sorry, buddy!

It’s actually a drone fly, Eristalinus taenliops, a species of hoverfly. It’s also known as "the striped-eye lagoon fly," "striped-eyed flower fly," and "band-eyed drone fly." In its adult stage, it's a pollinator. In its larval stage, it's a rat-tailed maggot.

It's apparently a native of Africa and inhabits parts of Europe (including France, Greece, Italy and Spain), the near East (including Turkey, Lebanon and Israel), and now South America (including Brazil and Argentina). It was first detected in California (Orange County) in 2006.

Some folks describe it as "an ugly duckling in the entomological world of flower flies."

No, it's adorable. Those zebra-striped eyes are utterly mesmerizing.

Then we saw a honey bee touch down on the same Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola. Sharing and staring.

"Are you my sister? Are you even a bee?"
Bug Squad blog
https://ucanr.edu/blog/bug-squad/article/bee-or-not-bee-4

09/02/2026

So there she was, as the day drew to a close, tucked in a patch of African blue basil in our pollinator garden.

She was barely visible, but the European wool carder bees, leafcutter bees, honey bees and syrphid flies knew she was there.

"Our patch! Our patch! Our patch!" The permanent residents boldly brushed up against her, telling her to "shoo, go away." She took the hint, fluttering away and touching down on a nearby rose bush.

She? The eighth monarch we've seen in our garden so far this year.

Ms. Monarch did not lay eggs on the milkweed as the other seven had. In fact, she ignored the milkweed.

She clung to a rosebud, her iconic coat of many colors now visible to all.

After a 15-minute stay, Ms. Monarch took flight, briefly circling the area, then finding a temporary home on a nectarine tree.

She graced us with her presence. Her presence was a present.

And then...the iconic coat of many colors vanished. Gone.

Her species perhaps gone, as well, to future generations.

Daily Bug Squad blog, https://ucanr.edu/blog/bug-squad/article/she-was-number-eight

09/01/2026

If you're curious about nematodes and tomatoes and the scientific research involved, be sure to head to the UC Davis campus on Friday, Sept. 4 to hear master's degree candidate Shah Alam of the Amanda Hodson lab, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, present his exit seminar on "Management Strategies and Disease Interactions of Resistance Breaking Root-Knot Nematodes."

It will be at 1 p.m., Friday, Sept. 4 in Room 176 of Hutchison Hall.

Alam, to receive his degree in September, holds a bachelor's degree in agriculture, Patuakhali Science and Technology University, Bangladesh (2017).

"Processing tomatoes are economically important to California, as the state accounts for approximately 95 percent of total U.S. production; root-knot nematodes in the genus Meloidogyne are considered highly damaging to this crop," he writes in his abstract.
https://ucanr.edu/blog/bug-squad/article/nematodes-tomatoes-and-challenges

08/29/2026

For decades, we've watched oleander aphids infest our milkweed.

Like many folks, we grow milkweed for the monarchs, but aphids insist on having their share, too.

Guess who's coming to dinner? Aphids.

Guess who's NOT invited? Aphids.

Guess who's coming anyway? Aphids.

Fast forward to the newly published research in the lab of community ecologist Louie Yang, professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.

Those aphids infesting your milkweed plants offer a surprising benefit.

The newly published UC Davis research suggests that the honeydew produced by aphids on milkweed plants increases plant growth.

“We found that the addition of honeydew at accumulated levels reduced total inorganic soil nitrogen by 48.8 percent relative to controls,” Yang said. “Unexpectedly, milkweed seedlings were 90 percent taller and had 4.2 times greater dry biomass in honeydew-conditioned soil than in the control group.”

For decades, we've watched oleander aphids infest our milkweed.Like many folks, we grow milkweed for the monarchs, but aphids insist on having their share, too.

08/28/2026

"Love is like a butterfly
As soft and gentle as a sigh
The multicolored moods of love are like its satin wings
Love makes your heart feel strange inside
It flutters like soft wings in flight..."
--Dolly Parton, 'Love Is Like a Butterfly' album, 1974

The world mourns the loss of the legendary Dolly Parton, singer, songwriter, actress and philanthropist, who died Tuesday, Aug. 25 in Nashville, Tenn. at age 80.

She spoke our language, she sang our songs, she did her best to help the poor, the forgotten, the targeted and the downtrodden.

Dolly spent her life chasing butterflies, and referenced the insects in her music, clothing and in the logo of her beloved amusement park, Dollywood, Pigeon Forge, Tenn.

In a 2021 interview with W Magazine, she recalled a childhood of wandering in the woods of Tennessee's Great Smoky Mountains and chasing butterflies.

"They didn't sting. They didn't bite, and they were so beautiful," she related.

"I just loved them because they were colorful and gentle, and I just kind of related to them with my own personality. I don't want to hurt anybody. Didn't want to bite. Didn't want to sting, and I still don't. I just kind of claimed them as my little symbol."

Perhaps some of them were monarchs?

Dolly proved to be the iconic monarch, universally loved, cherished and idolized. "Love is like a butterfly, a rare and gentle thing."

Daily Bug Squad blog

https://ucanr.edu/blog/bug-squad/article/love-butterfly

08/27/2026

Buzzing with the Bohart...
The Bohart Museum of Entomology spreads the wonder and joy of insects through its many outreach programs.
Tabatha Yang, Bohart Museum education and outreach coordinator, and Bohart intern Jo Ridgeway recently tabled at the Vacaville Museum Guild's annual Children's Party.
The children's party, a popular tradition since 1984, is geared for children ages 3 to 9 and takes place in the museum courtyard.
Yang and Ridgeway answered questions about the "Oh, My" insect specimen displays.
Ridgeway, the education and outreach intern at the Bohart Museum and a UC Davis senior majoring in entomology, introduced the crowd of 350 to the live petting zoo. The insects obliged: Madagascar hissing cockroaches and stick insects, aka "walking sticks."
Yang helped the youngsters craft "buzz kazoos," made with sticks, straws and rubber bands
https://ucanr.edu/blog/bug-squad/article/buzzing-bohart

08/26/2026

UC Davis Distinguished Professor Bruce Hammock (1947-2026), an amazing scientist, loved the mountains.

And so it is quite appropriate for EicOsiss, the company he ounded to fulfill a lifelong commitment to finding safer and more effective ways to treat chronic pain, to host the inaugural three-day Bruce Hammock Symposium at Palisades Tahoe, to celebrate "the extraordinary visionary whose work bridged disciplines and transformed both fundamental discovery and translational medicine."

The theme of the Oct. 11-Oct. 13 symposium: "Where Curiosity Meets Legacy."
https://ucanr.edu/blog/bug-squad/article/where-curiosity-meets-legacy

08/25/2026

A tip of the bee veil to "Team B!"
And yes, they're all beekeepers and bee or pollinator garden enthusiasts!
"Team B," the UC Davis Bee Haven Team from the E. L. Niño lab, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology (ENT-NEM), won high recognition in the UC Davis Staff Assembly's 2026 Citation of Excellence program and will be honored at a ceremony on Wednesday, Oct. 21 at the residence of UC Davis Chancellor Gary May.
A total of 15 campuswide UC Davis employees--recipients of either team or individual awards--will be celebrated at the event.
"Team B" received second-place or the honorable mention award in the highly competitive team category. "Team B" includes Kian Nikzad and Wendy Mather, co-program managers of the UC Davis-based California Master Beekeeper Program; Joseph Tauzer, staff research associate and manager of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility; and staff research associate Matthew Hoepfinger. All work in the UC Davis Bee Haven, the department's half-acre public demonstration/pollinator garden. The Haven, installed in the fall of 2019, is located next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road.
Also an integral part of "Team B" but unable to be a recipient due to a new employee probationary time frame: Samantha "Sam" Murray, education and garden coordinator of The Bee Haven. Elina Niño, professor of Cooperative Extension, Apiculture, a member of the ENT-NEM faculty, and founder-director of the California Master Beekeeper Program, serves as the director of the UC Davis Bee Haven.

See more at
https://ucanr.edu/blog/bug-squad/article/team-b-gains-high-recognition