Insects Part of Floriculture Display at Dixon May Fair

By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Special to Dixon Patch

Ever seen a honey bee observation hive--the queen bee laying eggs, worker bees tending the brood, and drones being fed by their sisters?

Ever seen leafcutting bees? Can you identify California’s butterflies?

Those insects and more are in the Floriculture Building at the 136th annual Dixon May Fair, May 4-8 at 655 S. First St. The displays are from the UC Davis Department of Entomology and the Bohart Museum of Entomology on the UC Davis campus.

Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen of the UC Davis Department of Entomology faculty is scheduled to answer questions about honey bees from fairgoers all day Saturday, May 7. 

Other from UC Davis are also expected to be at the exhibit and field questions.

The exhibit includes posters of native bees, honey bees and facts about honey bees.

UC Davis is the home of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road, west of the central campus. Honey bee and native bee researchers work at the facility. Next to it is the Haagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, a half-acre bee friendly garden open to the public from dawn to dusk.

The Bohart Museum, home to more than seven million insects, is open Monday through Thursday at 1124 Academic Surge on California Drive. The museum holds specimens collected worldwide and is the home of the California Insect Survey, a storehouse of the insect biodiversity of California’s deserts, mountains, coast and great central valley.