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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BLACK-FACED BUMBLE BEE, Bombus californicus, nectars salvia in the Storer Garden, UC Davis. This salvia is Salvia officinalis, cultivar Berggarten. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Warding Off Evil

September 14, 2009
If you stuff your turkey with sage, chances are it's Salvia officinalis. Not the turkey, the sage.
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BLACK SOLDIER FLY or Hermetia illucens, about three-fourths of an inch long, heads for bark mulch. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Soldiering Along

September 11, 2009
If you're into composting, chances are you've seen this one. Common name: black soldier fly (BSF). Scientific name: Hermetia illucens. Before you say "yecch"--wait! This is considered a beneficial insect because its larvae are quite desirable in compost piles.
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YELLOW-FACED bumble bee inside a rock purslane blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Unexpected Visitor

September 10, 2009
It's time to pop open a bottle of champagne and do a happy dance. Finally, finally, we saw a yellow-faced bumble bee (Bombus vosnesenskii) in our yard. After a 20-year absence.
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CARPENTER BEE (Xylocopa tabaniformis orpifex) robs nectar from a salvia (sage) by slitting the corolla. A carpenter bee is too big to enter the tubelike blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Two Nectar Robbers

September 9, 2009
You've probably seen carpenter bees engage in the practice known as "nectar robbing." Due to their large size, they cannot enter tubelike blossoms such as salvia (sage), so they slit the base of the corolla. They rob the nectar without pollinating the flower.
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POLLEN-PACKING honey bee nectaring gaura. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Gaura! Gaura! Gaura!

September 8, 2009
Pollen-packing honey bees dangling from gaura (Gaura linheimeri) are a joy to photograph. Gaura, native to Louisiana, Texas and Mexico, is a long-stemmed plant with a burst of pinkish-white petals that resemble whirling butterflies.
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