Bug Squad

Bumble bee on bull thistle at Bodega Bay

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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These Asian giant hornet images from the Washington State Department of Agriculture shows (from left), an example of a worker; the specimen collected July 14; an example of the queen.
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Trapping the Asian Giant Hornet

July 31, 2020
Just when folks were beginning to think "it may be over and done" regarding Asian giant hornet sightings, it's not. The Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) has just trapped its first Asian giant hornet, Vespa mandarinia, which the news media dubbed "the murder hornet.
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"Aah, nectar!" A Mexican cactus fly, Copestylum mexicanum, on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifolia, in Vacaville. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Behold: A Mexican Cactus Fly on a Mexican Sunflower

July 29, 2020
It's not often you see a Mexican cactus fly, Copestylum mexicanum, nectaring on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifolia. At first glance, you may think the insect is a carpenter bee or bumble bee. Then you see it hovering. Then you see its head. Then you see its stubby antennae.
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Western Tiger Swallowtail, Papilio rutulus, spreads its wings on a butterfly bush, Buddleia davidii. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Tracking a Tiger During the COVID-19 Crisis

July 27, 2020
Have are you faring during the COVID-19 crisis? If you have a pollinator garden--or access to you--and a camera, you can step out of The Great Indoors and enjoy The Great Outdoors. A newly eclosed Western Tiger Swallowtail, Papilio rutulus, however, can take your breath away.
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