Bug Squad

Have you ever wondered how climate change affects bees? Honey bees and native bees? You can find out Wednesday, Oct. 12 at a program on "Bees and Climate Change at the Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, located on Bee Biology Road, west of the central campus. The event, set from noon to 1:30 p.

The Mexican sunflower (Tithonia) is never alone. It loves company, attracting scores of insect guests, from honey bees to bumble bees to butterflies. We've seen monarchs, Gulf Fritillaries, Western tiger swallowtails, buckeyes, and fiery skippers nectaring on our Mexican sunflowers.

So here's this praying mantis perched on top of a prickly pear cactus. It's early morning and she's hungry. A cabbage white butterfly, looking like a white-gowned princess in a medieval palace, flutters by and pauses on the prickly pear to seek some sunshine. Oops! Fatal mistake.

When the Bohart Museum of Entomology, UC Davis, hosted an open house showcasing specimens collected last summer in Belize, attendees came from far and wide, from senior citizens to pre-schoolers.

So here's this gravid praying mantis perched on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia) in a Vacaville pollinator garden. She's in a butterfly state-of-mind, a picture of patience and persistence, a predator like no other. She doesn't have long to wait.