Bug Squad

News flash: Santa shops at the Bohart Museum of Entomology gift shop at UC Davis. Yes, he does.

Mark your calendars! Mark your calendars for the eagerly awaited open houses and special events at the Bohart Museum of Entomology.

Remember the celebrated image of George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and John Lennon crossing Abbey Road in single file outside their studios in London? It's the cover of their final album, "Abbey Road," released Sept. 26, 1969. All the Beatles, except Harrison, are wearing designer suits.

Picture yourself as a waggle-dancing honey bee. You're dancing in the dark, on a small, crowded dance floor with lots of obstacles, and you're trying to communicate to other foragers where that great resource is.

So there she is, a gnarly-looking praying mantis, the last of the season, and on her last legs. Last spiked forelegs? From her perch on a cactus in a Vacaville garden, this Stagmomantis limbata is neither praying nor preying. She is staring.