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 green lynx spider settles on a pink rockrose. (Cell phone photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Gotta Love That Spider!

April 30, 2020
Gotta love that spider! If you don't like spiders, you should like this one: the green lynx spider, Peucetia viridans. It's bright green, the kind that makes you think of shamrocks and leprechauns and Ireland.
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A soldier beetle on a yellow rose. (Cell phone photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Soldier Beetle Foraging on Aphids

April 29, 2020
Lady beetles, aka ladybugs, are not the only insects that feed on aphids. So do the soldier beetles, family Cantharidae. They are sometimes known as leatherwings. Got roses? Got aphids? You may also have a good friend, the soldier beetle.
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A honey bee, Apis mellifera, buzzes over the head of a male Valley carpenter bee, Xylocopa varipuncta, on a tower of jewels, Echium wildpretii. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Two Bees: A Close Encounter with a Cousin

April 28, 2020
So here I am, a male Valley carpenter bee, Xylocopa varipuncta, just enjoying the nectar on this tower of jewels, Echium wildpretii, in Vacaville, Calif. Some folks call me "The teddy bear bee." Yes, I like that nickname.
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