Rangelands

Yes, monarch butterflies qualify for the Endangered Species list. But no, we can't protect them because we don't have the money. That's the gist of what the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) said today.

Honey bees have nothing on the late Helen Reddy (Oct. 25, 1941-Sept. 29, 2020), an Australian-born singer who roared like a lion: "I am woman, hear me roar." Her hit song, "I Am Woman," released in 1972, became an anthem for the women's liberation/equal rights movement back in the '70s.

Nope, not an Asian giant hornet. Not even close. It's a Jerusalem cricket, sometimes called a "potato bug." The be-on-the-lookout (BOLO) for the Asian giant hornet detected in Canada and Washington state has resulted in scores of queries and submissions of not-even-close specimens.

Do you know your spiders? If you engage in social media, you've probably seen a "what-is-this" query about a spider that some unsuspecting person discovered quite unexpectedly in a garden, bedroom, bathroom or garage.

A little known fact about the outstanding career of Jay Rosenheim, UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology and a newly inducted Fellow of the Entomological Society of America, is that, as an undergraduate at UC Davis, he initially majored in physics. Physics? Yes.

You won't want to miss this seminar.

He didn't set out to study insect science. Jay Rosenheim was a third-year physics major at the University of California, Davis, in 1981 whenon a lark--he enrolled in Professor Harry Kaya's Entomology 100 course. The professor inspired him, the class enthralled him, and insects captivated him.

Congratulations to medical entomologist Thomas W. Scott, named one of the 11 UC Davis researchers on the 2020 Highly Cited Researchers list by the Web of Science Group, the information and technology provider for the global scientific research community. It's an honor well-deserved.

Chemical ecologist Andre Kessler, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Cornell University, will speak on "Chemical Information Driving Plant Interactions and Community Dynamics" at the next UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology seminar.

It's definitely going to be quite a memorable year for the Western monarch butterflies--memorable as in "record low populations at the overwintering sites along the California coast.