Bug Squad

So there we were, checking out the bumble bee mimics (Anthophora bomboides stanfordiana) on May 9 at Bodega Head, Sonoma County, and along buzzes a pollen-packing Habropoda miserabilis, the bee that UC Davis doctoral alumnus Leslie Saul-Gershenz studies.

If you've ever been to Bodega Head in Sonoma County, you may have marveled at the waves crashing and the whales surfacing. But have you ever seen the digger bees, Anthophora bomboides stanfordiana, aka bumble bee mimics, that nest in the sandstone cliffs? They're there.

Want to learn more about those insect pests that ravage our crops? Curious about spiders and their ecological roles? Ever heard of the California dogface butterfly, which the California State Legislature designated at the state insect 50 years ago? You're in luck.

What's better than seeing a yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, foraging on an neon pink ice plant at Bodega Bay? Seeing two bumble bees on the same flower. That's what we observed on a recent trip to Doran Regional Park, Bodega Bay, Sonoma County. It was bumble bee heaven.

When evolutionary biologist Corlett Wood attended her first evolutionary meeting in 2010 in Portland, Ore., she reported that "I had found my people." Today she's an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania and has found her calling.