Bug Squad

Honey bees, mosquitoes, cabbage butterflies, fruit flies and more... You'll hear about a variety of insects when the international symposium, Insect Olfaction and Taste in 24 Hours Around the Globe, takes place beginning at 9 a.m., Pacific Daylight Time (PDT), Wednesday, Aug. 11.

If you have a passionflower vine (Passiflora), you probably have cats. No, not the four-legged ones that meow, chase mice or cavort with catnip. These 'cats or caterpillars are part of the life cycle of the Gulf Fritillary butterflies (Agraulis vanillae) and Passiflora is their host plant.

Robert Michael Pyle, founder of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, was right at home at the UC Davis Bohart Museum of Entomology back in July of 2019, when he and other members of the international Lepidopterists' Society toured the insect museum as part of their 68th annual meeting.

Born in Lubbock, Texas, raised in the south San Francisco area, and schooled in insects. That was just the beginning of what would unfold into an outstanding entomological career.

When you're a honey bee and you're packing pollen and approaching your landing--an artichoke thistle--it's a good idea to clean your proboscis (tongue) first. Caught in flight: a honey bee doing a little grooming.