How many different bumble bee species have you seen or photographed this year? Have you seen the black-tailed bumble bee, Bombus melanopygus? It's the earliest to emerge in this area. We photographed several B. melanopygus on Jan. 25 near downtown Benicia.
You never know where a praying mantis will deposit its egg case, the ootheca. In and around Vacaville, we've seen them on olive trees, honeysuckle vines, passionflower vines, and wooden stakes.
If you were thinking of trying to net a cabbage white butterfly to win Art Shapiro's "Beer-for-a-Butterfly Contest"--a butterfly for a pitcher of beer, or its equivalent--you're too late. The contest is over. No winner this year.
At first glance, they're often mistaken for bees, but bees they are not. They're flies. You've probably seen them hovering over flowers, which is why syprhids are commonly called "hover flies" or "flower flies." Enter Andrew Young.
If you can picture a huge water bear (tardigrade) sculpture gracing the entrance to the Bohart Museum of Entomology on Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus, the scientists need your help to make it happen.
