Bug Squad

You just can't beat those Halloween costumes at the Bohart Museum of Entomology's annual membership party. By now, you've probably seen the peacock jumping spider costume created and worn by UC Davis entomology undergraduate student Wade Spencer.

When the Bohart Museum of Entomology hosts its annual membership Halloween party, don't expect to see ghosts and goblins and witches. No, expect to see a peacock jumping spider, violin spider, and praying mantis. And okay, maybe a monarch butterfly and a honey bee or two.

We love looking at insect images. Drum roll...the winning images for the Entomological Society of America's Photo Salon, a global competition, have just been announced. They will be shown at the ESA's meeting, Nov. 15-18 in Minneapolis, Minn.

If you're nurturing a passionflower vine (Passiflora), you've probably seen "The Butterfly Ballet."' The Gulf Fritillaries (Agraulis vanillae), orangish-reddish butterflies with silver-spangled wings, stay close to Passiflora, their host plant. It's the circle of life.

Pity the poor honey bees. They have to contend with pesticides, parasites, pests, diseases, malnutrition, stress and that mysterious malady called colony collapse disorder in which adult bees abandon the hive, leaving behind the queen, immature bees and food stores.