Bug Squad

The Bohart Museum of Entomology at the University of California, Davis, stocks a "Got Milkweed?" t-shirt in its gift shop. In real life, insects "get" milkweed.

Erected in 1852, this historic building was ostensibly intended for Benicia City Hall. Offered as the state capitol and promptly accepted, it had that honor from February 4, 1853 to February 25, 1854. Deeded to the state in 1951, it was one of the four locations of the 'Capitol on Wheels.

The conversation usually starts like this: "I saw this huge, huge bumble bee with yellow on its back. It was buzzing like crazy." Often it's not a bumble bee, but the Valley carpenter bee, Xylocopa varipuncta, that's been foraging on the blooms of the passionflower vine (Passiflora).

It's surprising what the microbes in nectar can reveal. Take the nectar of the sticky monkeyflower, Mimulus auranticus.

So, here we are, a couple of stink bugs hidden in the lavender. Unnoticed. Undetected. Undisturbed. We're loving the lavender, and we're in the process of providing the world with more stink bugs. "Okay, we know, we know. We're red-shouldered stink bugs (Thyanta pallidovirens).