Bug Squad

"We have no rapae!" No rapae today! That's the latest report from Art Shapiro, distinguished professor of evolution and ecology at the University of California, Davis. He's sponsoring his annual Butterfly-for-a-Beer Contest and it's Day 13, Friday the 13th.

Despite the widespread interest in migrating monarch butterflies, other insects migrate, too. That's way we were excited to see National Public Radio's Nell Greenfieldboyce generate a recent piece on "Bugs Abound: If You Think the Skies Are Crowded, You Have No Idea.

Hear that buzz? That's the sound of success. It finally happened. The beleaguered rusty-patched bumble bee, Bombus affinis, is now listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as an endangered species, the first bee in the continental United States to be listed under the Endangered Species Act.

Christian Nansen is an entomologist on the move.

It is not a good time to be a butterfly. Especially if you're a monarch butterfly that eclosed on Jan. 5 in cold and rainy Vacaville, Calif. while all--or most--of your counterparts are overwintering along coastal California or in central Mexico.