Bug Squad

Ever seen the California state insect, the dogface butterfly (Zerene eurydice), or toured its celebrated habitat near Auburn on the Shutamul Bear River Preserve, owned by Placer Land Trust (PLT)?

If that heavy growth of water hyacinth in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in central California alarms you, then you'll want to read a newly published research paper that provides the most thorough look at how salinity impacts the invasive plant and its biological control agent, the weevil Neocheti...

Ever seen a back-lit monarch butterfly? It's like a stained-glass window in a centuries-old steepled church where you cannot see the ugliness of the world, but its beauty. Monarchs are like that. Those iconic butterflies excite, inspire and transform you, just like stained glass windows.

The monarch butterfly egg is oh-so-very-tiny but what an incredible work of nature! The intricate egg is about the size of a pinhead, 0.9mm wide and 1.2mm high. It's creamy yellow with narrow longitudinal ridges.

Congratulations to UC Davis alumnus and ant morphologist Brendon Boudinot recipient of the coveted Robert E. Snodgrass Memorial Research Award from the Entomological Society of America (ESA).