Bug Squad

Bumble bee on bull thistle at Bodega Bay
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ZAIN SYED, chemical ecologist at UC Davis, holds a bag of 2000 Culex mosquitoes he trapped between Davis and West Sacramento. He is using them for his research. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Mosquito Heaven

July 29th, 2009
Chemical ecologist Zain Syed of the Walter Leal lab, University of California, Davis, knows just where to find mosquitoes for his research. Rice fields. He's been collecting up to 3000 mosquitoes a night along the Yolo Causeway, located on Interstate 80 between Davis and West Sacramento.
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This 14-million-old fossil, unearthed in Nevada, is a honey bee, proving that North America did have a honey bee before colonists brought the European honey bee here in 1622. (Photo courtesy of Michael Engle)
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First Native American Honey Bee

July 28th, 2009
Amazing. An article posted on the ScienceNews Web site today indicates that North America did, too, have a honey bee. For nearly 400 years, we've been told that the honey bee (genus Apis) did not exist on this continent until 1622. That's when the colonists brought it over from Europe.
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BLOOD-FED MOSQUITO--Culex quinquefasicatus after feeding on a non-treated DEET arm in the lab of chemical ecologist Walter Leal, UC Davis Department of Entomology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Skeeter Season

July 27th, 2009
Camping season is upon us, and with it came the news of California's first confirmed human case of West Nile virus (WNV). The San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) announced today that a 76-year-old man contracted WNV, but "he did not acquire the virus locally.
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NATIVE BEE, a sweat bee (Halictus ligatus) nectars Agapanthus. This is a ground-nesting bee. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Ogling the Agapanthus

July 24th, 2009
Seems like many folks assume that all bees are "honey bees." They're not. If you look around you, you'll see bees of all shapes, colors and sizes nectaring flowers.
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A HONEY BEE nectars a lemon cucumber blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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No Bees, No Cucumbers

July 23rd, 2009
Its the lemon law. When life hands you a lemon (cucumber), make honey. The lemon cucumber (Cucumis sativus) is an increasingly popular garden vegetable that doesn't look like your typical cucumber. The vegetable is round to oval in shape and is pale yellow to pale green in color.
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