Bug Squad

All that glitters is not gold. The gold coin flowers (Asteriscus maritimus) planted in our yard attract a goodly number of leafcutter bees and hover flies (aka flower flies and syrphid flies). But if you look closely, gold coins attract something else--arachnids.

If the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, UC Davis Department of Entomology, seemed like a lonely place in 1994, 2004 and 2005, that's because four professors retired. Now the bee biology program is gaining new strength.

Being named a Fellow of the 6000-member Entomological Society of America (ESA) is like winning the Pulitzer Prize in the bug world. So many talented entomologists out there. So few awards. And even fewer prestigious awards.

The female black widow spider stood guard. She clutched her two teardrop-shaped egg sacs, suspended from the web she'd earlier woven on the lip of the swimming pool. She spent the day crawling up, over and around them. Two sacs, about 300 eggs inside each one. Her future offspring. Proud Mama.

How do bumble bees plan their route to find the most rewarding flowers in the shortest distance? That "is a mathematical puzzle which has vexed academics and traveling salesmen alike," according to an article in the June 29th edition of Science Daily.