Bug Squad

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.

Beekeepers circled biologist Randy Oliver, commercial beekeeper, scientist, writer and educator, as he held court in the apiary of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, University of California,Davis.

You're watching honey bees foraging in a field. They buzz toward a blossom, sip nectar, and then head for another blossom. Typical, right? But there's much more going on than you think. It's not just the nectar that she's scented.

You gotta love those praying mantids! An orchid mantis and a ghost mantis fascinated visitors at the recent open house hosted by the Bohart Museum of Entomology.