Bug Squad

Not many people know that the state insect of California is the California dogface butterfly (Zerene eurydice) or the role that schoolchildren played to attain that honor.

Bed Bugs at the Bohart? Indeed. Those attending the Bohart Museum of Entomology's open house on Saturday, Feb. 2, will see them--and see them feeding. The Bohart Museum of Entomology is one of six museums or educational centers on the UC Davis campus holding an open house from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday.

The yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, is back. We spotted some overwintering queen bumble bees gathering nectar on a hebe bush last Sunday at the Berkeley marina.

It's a catchy title: "Unraveling the Complex: Who's Who in the Bemisia Zoo?" Paul de Barro, a senior principal research scientist at CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, Australia, will speak on "Unraveling the Complex: Whos Who in the Bemisia Zoo?

It's a sure sign of spring when the Japanese apricot tree north of Wickson Hall at the University of California, Davis, blooms. Butterfly expert Art Shapiro, professor of evolution and ecology at UC Davis, noticed it flowering on Jan. 21. "First fruit tree of 2013 blooming!" he said.