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 monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus, eclosed today (July 3) and is drying its wings on Hot Lips salvia, Salvia microphylla. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Independence Day and a Monarch

July 3, 2020
We call it the Fourth of July or Independence Day. Our 13 American colonies rose up against the monarch of Great Britain, King George III, and declared themselves free and independent.
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A monarch caterpillar feasting on a tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica, in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Leave Me Alone, Please--I'm Eating!

July 2, 2020
"Leave me alone, please--I'm eating." The monarch caterpillar feasting on the tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica, in Vacaville, Calif., kept doing what monarch 'cats do best--eat. She insisted on devouring the leaves as if there were no tomorrow--and today would end soon.
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A digger bee, Anthophora bomboides stanfordiana, returning to her nest on the sand cliffs of Bodega Bay. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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The Bees of Bodega Head

July 1, 2020
There's more to Sonoma County's Bodega Head than the stunning views, crashing waves, nesting seabirds, and bursts of flora and fauna. The sand cliffs are also the home of a digger bee, a bumble bee mimic known as Anthophora bomboides stanfordiana.
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A praying mantis nymph, Stagmomantis limbata, spreads out across a sunflower blossom in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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What's for Dinner? Drama on a Sunflower Blossom

June 30, 2020
What's for dinner? If you're a praying mantis nymph, Stagmomantis limbata, perched on a sunflower, sometimes it can be a long wait. Breakfast fades into lunch, lunch fades into dinner... First you scout out your territory and spread out (hey, look at me)!.
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