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Category: Fruits & Vegetables

Thanksgiving feast

Why We Should All Thank the Bees on Thanksgiving Day

by Amy Vu
November 23, 2020

As temperatures drop and the leaves begin to fall, we are reminded that the holiday season is upon us yet again. From casseroles and salads, to side dishes and desserts, we have a lot on our heaping plates that we owe to honey bee pollination. ... READ MORE

Category: Crops, Food Safety, Fruits & Vegetables, Health & Nutrition, Livestock, UF/IFAS, UF/IFAS Extension
Tags: Beekeeping, Bees, Health, Honeybee, Pollination, UFBugs, UFHoneyBeeLab, UFIFASExtension
Honey bees on a hive.

Pollinator Wanna-bees?

by Adam Dale
May 22, 2020

This is a guest post by Kelly Laplante, an undergraduate student and research assistant in the Dale Lab at the University of Florida Entomology and Nematology Department. With the arrival of spring and warmer weather, you may have noticed ... READ MORE

Category: Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Fruits & Vegetables, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, Lawn, Pests & Disease, Pests & Disease, Turf
Tags: Beneficial, Beneficial Insects, Biological Control, Entomology, Insects, Pest Management, Pollinators, UFBugs, UFIFASExtension, What's Bugging You?
Red flowers, an oak tree, pasture, and a pond.

Bug Word of the Day: Central-Place Forager

by rachelmallinger
April 6, 2018

Central-place foragers are animals that return to the same nest in between foraging trips, collecting their food, or food for their offspring, in an area around that nest. Animals that are not central-place foragers instead roam continuously, ... READ MORE

Category: Agriculture, Conservation, Farm Management, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Forests, Fruits & Vegetables, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, Natural Resources, UF/IFAS, UF/IFAS Extension, Wildlife
Tags: Bees, BugWeek, Entomology, FAQ, Insects, UFBugs

Bug of the Day: Sweat Bee

by rachelmallinger
April 6, 2018

If you are outside on a hot day working in the gardening, or taking a walk through a park, you might find a shiny bee resting on your sweaty skin. It is probably a sweat bee! Sweat bees are a large, diverse group of bees in the family Halictidae ... READ MORE

Category: Agriculture, Conservation, Crops, Farm Management, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Forests, Fruits & Vegetables, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, Natural Resources, UF/IFAS, UF/IFAS Extension, Wildlife
Tags: Bees, BugWeek, Entomology, FAQ, Insects, UFBugs

Bug Word of the Day: Proboscis

by rachelmallinger
April 5, 2018

Elephants, mosquitoes, and butterflies share something in common – they have a proboscis! A proboscis is simply a long appendage coming out of an animal’s head, and is used to describe the nose or snout of a vertebrate, like an elephant, ... READ MORE

Category: Agriculture, Conservation, Crops, Forests, Fruits & Vegetables, Horticulture, Lawn, Natural Resources, UF/IFAS, UF/IFAS Extension, Wildlife
Tags: Bees, BugWeek, Entomology, FAQ, Insects, UFBugs

Bug of the Day: Green Orchid Bee

by rachelmallinger
April 4, 2018

The green orchid bee, Euglossa dilemma Friese, is a large, beautiful, metallic green bee named for its unique association with orchids and its distinctive color. While it can be found in the southern half of Florida, it is not native to this ... READ MORE

Category: Agriculture, Conservation, Crops, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Forests, Fruits & Vegetables, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, Invasive Species, Lawn, Natural Resources, UF/IFAS, UF/IFAS Extension
Tags: Bees, BugWeek, Entomology, FAQ, Insects, UFBugs

Bug Word of the Day: Scopa

by rachelmallinger
April 4, 2018

A scopa is a part of a bee’s body that is designed to hold and carry pollen. Bees must transport pollen from the flower, where it is collected, to the bee’s nest, where it is deposited to feed the bee’s offspring. In order to transport ... READ MORE

Category: Agriculture, Conservation, Crops, Farm Management, Forests, Fruits & Vegetables, Horticulture, Natural Resources, UF/IFAS, UF/IFAS Extension, Wildlife
Tags: Bees, BugWeek, Entomology, FAQ, Insects, UFBugs

Bug of the Day: Hoverflies

by rachelmallinger
April 3, 2018

Hoverflies, also known as flower flies or syrphid flies, are perhaps the most unrecognized and underappreciated pollinators. They are actually thought by some scientists to be the second most important group of pollinators after bees! This ... READ MORE

Category: Agriculture, Conservation, Crops, Farm Management, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Forests, Fruits & Vegetables, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, Natural Resources, UF/IFAS, UF/IFAS Extension, Wildlife
Tags: Bees, BugWeek, Entomology, FAQ, Insects, UFBugs

Bug Word of the Day: Flower Constancy

by rachelmallinger
April 3, 2018

Pollinators sometimes play favorites when choosing plants to forage on, a behavior known as flower constancy. This behavior can be seen across many different types of pollinators, but is perhaps best known in honey bees and bumble bees. As ... READ MORE

Category: Agriculture, Conservation, Crops, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Forests, Fruits & Vegetables, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, Natural Resources, UF/IFAS, UF/IFAS Extension, Wildlife
Tags: Bees, BugWeek, Entomology, FAQ, Insects, UFBugs

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