Bug Squad

A monarch butterfly took flight at the third annual Butterfly Summit at Annie's Annuals and Perennials in Richmond, an event co-sponsored by the Bay Area-based Pollinator Posse.

The boys are back in town. After the long winter and rainy spring, the boys are back in town. That would be the male Valley carpenter bees, Xylocopa varipuncta, or what Robbin Thorp, distinguished emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis, calls "the teddy bear bees.

When you're a little kid and there's a huge bee towering over you, what do you do? You do what comes naturally.

Insects can tell us a lot about human longevity. James R. Carey, UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology, will discuss "What Can Insect Studies Tell Us about Longevity and Aging? Lots!" at his UC Davis Emeriti Association presentation at 11:30 a.m., Thursday, May 9 in the Walter A.

If you want to be a beekeeper, you must think like a bee, not like a beekeeper. So says beekeeper/journalist Kim Flottum, who has served as the editor of Bee Culture magazine for more than three decades.