It was, by all accounts, a "fantastic" fruit fly-identification workshop.

The three-day training course, held March 11-13 in the Plant Pest Diagnostics Laboratory of the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), involved identifying economically important fruit flies that infest the state’s agricultural crops. Invasive fruit flies attack more than 300 of California’s crops, ranging from fruits and nuts to berries and vegetables, causing millions worth of dollars in damage annually.

Link to research paper

Humans use the chemical compound, hydrogen peroxide, as a disinfectant, bleach, and antiseptic, but a newly published UC Davis study indicates that “diverse plant species, not just tobacco, protect their nectar from bacteria and fungi by producing varying levels of hydrogen peroxide.”

Carla-Cristina “CC” Edwards, a second-year doctoral student in the lab of UC Davis medical entomologist-geneticist Geoffrey Attardo, is the newly elected chair of the Young Professionals (YPs) of the American Mosquito Control Association (AMCA). 

(Register at https://tinyurl.com/hmbnehnu. Registration ends March 23)

There may be a few openings available in the free, three-day fruit fly identification-training workshop, taught by internationally recognized Tephritidae experts  from March 11-13 in the Plant Pest Diagnostics Center, California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), located at 3294 Meadowview Road, Sacramento.

The openings are due to cancellations by USDA employees who either lost their positions or had their funding cut.

Ski with a scientist?

Live poison dart frogs will be featured at the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house, themed “Venomous vs. Poisonous,” on Sunday, March 2.

The event, free and family friendly, will take place from 1 to 4 p.m. in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, and in the hallway.

What do we know about the impacts of pesticides on pollinators? What steps do regulatory agencies like the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) take to safeguard our pollinators?  Are protections from the EPA adequate or inadequate? 

UC Davis professor emeritus Bruce Eldridge (1933-2025), an internationally recognized medical entomologist whose military,  academic and administrative career spanned more than six decades, enjoyed many outside interests. Among them: he played his banjo in bluegrass bands and he loved trains.  Eldridge was a dedicated rail enthusiast who took many trips with his friend, Ken Lorenzen.

UC Davis professor emeritus Bruce Frederick Eldridge, an internationally recognized medical entomologist whose exemplary military,  academic and administrative career spanned more than six decades, died Wednesday, Feb. 5 in Davis at age 91. 

(Update: Felicity Muth's Feb. 20th presentation is on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5Nv3DMH38s) 

Felicity Muth, assistant professor, Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, UC Davis College of Biological Sciences, will give a special presentation via Zoom on “How Do Animals Think? Some Insights from Bumble Bees” from 3:10 to 4:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 20.

UC Davis distinguished professor Walter Soares Leal soared from a self-described “rough childhood” in his native Brazil to become an internationally recognized scientist celebrated for his research on chemical communication and olfaction in insects.

But in his early childhood, he disliked insects, especially the cockroaches that crawled into his mouth while he was sleeping, and mosquitoes that bit him when he was and wasn’t.

Mitzy Porras, assistant professor of global change ecology in the Department of Biology,  San Francisco State University, will present a UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology seminar on Feb. 10 on "Manipulation of Plant and Insect Phenotypes."

Porras will speak at 4:10 p.m., Monday, Feb. 10 in 122 Briggs Hall and via Zoom. The Zoom link: https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/95882849672/

The Pacific Branch, Entomological Society of America (PBESA), singled out three members of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and a UC Davis doctoral alumnus for special awards. The complete list was announced today (Feb. 5).

Professor Jason Bond of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, described as “a powerhouse in the world of systematics and arachnology,” is the newly selected recipient of the 2025 Systematics, Evolution, and Biodiversity Award from the Pacific Branch, Entomological Society of America (PBESA).