Bug Squad

Bumble bee on bull thistle at Bodega Bay
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UC ANR is renovating its website. The Bug Squad blog, by Kathy Keatley Garvey of the University of California, Davis, is a daily (Monday-Friday) blog launched Aug. 6, 2008. It is about the wonderful world of insects and the entomologists who study them. Blog posts are archived at https://my.ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/archive.cfm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A digger bee, Anthophora urbana in flight, as it heads for another catmint blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Article

Ready or Not, Here I Come!

July 13, 2021
Ready or not, here I come! "Wait, can you slow down a bit?" I ask. "I can't focus when you move so fast!" No, sorry! I'm in a hurry! Anthophora urbana, a solitary, ground-nesting bee, frequents our garden to forage on the catmint (Nepeta) and lavender (Lavandula).
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A Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae, depositing an egg on the tendrils of her host plant, Passiflora. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Caught in the Act of Laying an Egg on Tendrils

July 12, 2021
You know the drill, lay 'em on the tendrils. But Gulf Fritillary butterflies, Agraulis vanillae, don't always lay their eggs on the tendrils of their host plant, the passionflower vine (Passiflora) although textbooks may indicate that.
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The Lucky Seven: seven male Melissodes agilis bees sleeping on a spent Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola, in a Vacaville pollinator garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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The Lucky Seven: Seven Sleeping Bees

July 9, 2021
Okay, boys, listen up! You're the Lucky Seven! Count yourselves. There are seven of you--seven male Melissodes agilis bees--sleeping on a single spent Mexican sunflower blossom (Tithonia rotundifola).
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