Kings

The conversation usually starts like this: "I saw this huge, huge bumble bee with yellow on its back. It was buzzing like crazy." Often it's not a bumble bee, but the Valley carpenter bee, Xylocopa varipuncta, that's been foraging on the blooms of the passionflower vine (Passiflora).

Diadasia bituberculata Digger Bee The hills are alive with the sound of BEE-EEZZE. And often they are found crawling on the ground, as is the case of Digger Bees.

You're on a winning streak when you spot a gray hairstreak. No, not the streak in Grandpa's hair--the streak on Grandma's flowers. It's the gray hairstreak butterfly, Strymon mellinus, also known as the common hairstreak.

Bugs rule! Congratulations to the world's top 10 entomology departments, as listed today (April 3) in the long-awaited Times Higher Education's Center for World University Rankings. The rankings show the University of Florida's Department of Entomology and Nematology as No. 1.

What if you could reduce cover and biomass of invasive aquatic weeds, such as waterhyacinth, all while sitting back with a glass of lemonade and watching nature do its job? No herbicides, no mechanical control, and no clogged up marinas or waterways.

What amazing journeys! For the last two months, migratory monarch butterflies have regularly stopped for flight fuel in our 600-square-foot pollinator garden in Vacaville, Calif. to nectar on Mexican sunflower (Tithonia), butterfly bush (Buddleia) and Lantana.

Last spring you may have seen honey bees pollinating the showy pomegranate blossoms. The ancient fruit, first cultivated around 4000 B.C. in Persia and known as "the fruit of kings," bursts with flavor, antioxidants and medicinal qualities.

From California Ag Today by Patrick Cavanaugh, Farm News Director :: Aug.

After 36 years as an agronomist/weed science advisor with UC Cooperative Extension, Steven Wright retired June 30.

What's better than sighting a yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii? Well, a newly emerged Bombus vosnesenskii queen. On the last day of June, we spotted this fresh queen-looking foraging on our blanket flower (Gaillardia).