Alameda

Few people have seen California's state insect in the wild, but now thousands will this week--on TV. The California dogface butterfly, Zerene eurydice, and its Auburn habitat will be featured on KVIE Public Television's "Rob on the Road" show at various times throughout the week.

He may have been born" in an Ashland, Ore., vineyard. But at least we know he hails from Ashland. That's what we learned about the male monarch that fluttered into our pollinator garden in Vacaville, Calif. on Monday, Sept.

The saga of the defensive honey bees--or what journalists labeled "aggressive" honey bees--in Concord continues. Although Extension apicuturist emeritus Eric Mussen of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, retired in 2014 after 38 years of service, he continues his Extension work.

Come to the Central Coast Rangeland Coalition Spring Meeting on April 21 in Sunol (Bay Area, south of Pleasanton). Sign up soon! Registration will be limited to 75 people and will fill up quickly. The last day to register will be March 29. The $10 fee covers lunch.

Is the overwintering monarch butterfly population along California's coast increasing or decreasing? "So far, far the picture is rather mixed for the number of monarchs in California," according to Matthew Shepherd, communications director for the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.

Female (top), male and female in copulation (middle) and a mature nymph (bottom) of Bagrada bug on a dime. (Photo by Surendra Dara) Bagrada bug (Bagrada hilaris) is an invasive pest that was first reported in California in 2008 in Los Angeles County.

Bagrada bug [Bagrada hilaris (Burmeister)] is an invasive hemipteran insect (Family: Pentatomidae) that was first reported in Los Angeles County, California in 2008. It has now spread to several counties in California and is moving northwards.

It's just in time for National Pollinator Week, June 16-22.

It's all about knowing the biodiversity in Knowland Park. And trying to save it from development. Scientists and citizen-scientists will gather Sunday, June 1 in the western highlands of the Oakland park to conduct a "bioblitz"--or a tally of the biodiversity of animals and plants living there.

Light brown apple moth (LBAM), Epiphyas postvittana (Walker) was recently found in Santa Barbara County for the sixth time. LBAM is a quarantine pest on the United States mainland and can cause serious damage to various crops, nurseries, fruit trees, landscapes, and native plants.