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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two migrating monarchs land on a butterfly bush in Vacaville, Calif. to sip some nectar. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Article

What's Better Than Seeing a Monarch Butterfly?

October 12, 2023
Question: What's better than seeing a monarch butterfly? Answer: Seeing two monarch butterflies sharing the same blossom on a butterfly bush! Scenario: Monarchs (Danaus plexippus) from the Pacific Northwest are fluttering through Vacaville, Calif.
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This praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata, has just ambushed a honey bee and is grasping it in its spiked forelegs. There is no Harry Houdini-kind of escape. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Article

Spiked Forelegs of a Praying Mantis: There Is No Escape

October 9, 2023
A praying mantis, an incredible ambush predator, can lie in wait for hours for its prey. Often it's so camouflaged that it totally blends in with its habitat. It can rotate its head 180 degrees--and nothing, it seems, can escape its view.
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The adult Gulf Fritillary butterfly is a brilliant orange, with silver-spangled underwings. This one is nectaring on a Mexican petunia in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Article

The Butterfly Egg: The Promise of a New Generation

October 6, 2023
Ever seen a Gulf Fritillary laying an egg? The Gulf Frit, or "passion butterfly" (Agraulis vanillae), lays her tiny, yellow eggs, singly, on her host plant, the passionflower vine (Passiflora). The egg? It's about the size of a pin head.
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