Bug Squad

So there they were, the bride and groom, culminating their vows. We spotted them in Vacaville, Calif., clinging to a passion flower vine (Passiflora), their host plant--just the two of them, the female Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) and the male. Two's company? Not for long.

Think bees. Think butterflies. Think plants that will attract them. The UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden is hosting its first in a series of fall plant sales on Saturday, Oct. 7 at the Arboretum Teaching Nursery on Garrod Drive, UC Davis campus.

"When's the next public tour of Kate Frey's garden?" That's a question we're often asked and now we have an answer: Saturday, Oct. 7.

It's 6 a.m. Do you know where your praying mantids are? Well, yes. Two of them. Just before dawn broke, we walked around our pollinator (and prey) garden and spotted a pencil-thin male mantis, Stagmomantis limbata, silhouetted on the milkweed.

Intriguing topic: social evolution in social insects... The UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology has booked associate professor of biology Tim Linksvayer of the University of Pennsylvania for a seminar on Genomic Signatures of Social Evolution in Social Insects" on Wednesday, Oct. 4.