Back in 2010, the UC Davis entomology labs of integrated pest management specialist Frank Zalom and molecular geneticist and physiologist Joanna Chiu  joined forces to target the spotted-wing drosophila (SWD), a serious threat to berry production in California.

He never expected to discover a new praying mantis species.

But a juvenile mantis that UC Davis alumnus Lohitashwa “Lohit” Garikipati collected on a 2019 trip to Madera Canyon, Arizona, proved not to be the commonly known California mantis, Stagmomantis wheelerii, but a new species.

Nematologist Amanda Hodson, assistant professor of soil ecology and pest management, and coordinator of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology's seminars for the 2024-25 academic year, has announced the list of fall quarter seminars

It’s not often that your first doctoral published research makes the cover of an academic journal and focuses on an insect that most people have never heard of--and will probably never see--except in insect museums like the Bohart Museum of Entomology at UC Davis.

UC Davis Distinguished Professor Emeritus Howard Ferris, internationally recognized for his “exceptional, wide-ranging and unparalleled contributions to nematology” over a 64-year career, is a newly elected Honorary Member of the Society of Nematologists (SON), the international organization’s highest award.

Ferris received the award at SON’s 63rd annual conference, held in Park City, Utah.

Entomology shared the spotlight in a newly released UC Davis video tribute to emeriti, an annual public service project by UC Davis distinguished professor Walter Leal.

Leal creates an annual video tribute to UC Davis faculty transitioning to emeriti, "as a way of celebrating their accomplishments as they enter a new chapter in their lives." It is a zero-budget, one-person production.

Nematology graduate students in the laboratory of associate professor Shahid Siddique, Department of Entomology and Nematology did well at the 63rd annual meeting of the Society of Nematologists (SON), held recently in Park City, Utah.

Climate change is rapidly restructuring North American bumble bee communities, according to newly published research from the laboratory of Professor Neal Williams, a pollination ecologist in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.

Reservations close Sept. 1 for the Thomas and Nina Leigh Distinguished Alumni Award Seminar, to be presented by noted entomologist and climate change author MIchael Hoffmann, emeritus professor of Cornell University.

A sensory moth exhibit by a UC Davis doctoral student and his father will be among the stations featured at the Bohart Museum of Entomology Moth Night, set from 7 to 11 p.m., Saturday, July 20 in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane. 

The event, free and family friendly, will take place inside and outside the Bohart Museum, as well as in the hallway of Academic Surge.