Bug Squad

You won't want to miss this. It's an opportunity to learn more about the biology and history of California's state insect, the California dogface butterfly. The Bohart Museum of Entomology will showcase and celebrate the butterfly at its open house from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, July 16.

No assassinations today! But an "assassination attempt." There it was, a leafhopper assassin bug, Zelus renardii, waiting for prey atop a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola in a Vacaville pollinator garden. Yes, it's native to North America.

"My old flame" returned Saturday, July 2. A strong north wind aided him. It wasn't the "old flame" from last year, but a new generation. Still, what a beauty of a dragonfly--a red flameskimmer or firecracker skimmer (Libellula saturata), native to Western North America.

(Editor's Note: The public can sign up for the free- access webinar, sponsored by Bedoukian Research, Inc., here: https://bit.ly/3PeXJhu) If you're a postdoctoral researcher, it's not every day you get to present your work at an international symposium.

Today is the Fourth of July, and what better time to proclaim: "Hurray for the red, white and blue!" And the yellow. On a camping trip last week to Doran Regional Park, Bodega Bay, we admired our neighbors' display of American flagsbordered with a dozen honey bees. These bees, however, didn't buzz.