Bug Squad

Who doesn't love a praying mantis? Certainly not a butterfly or a bee. We humans, though, are fascinated by them. First, there's the problem of finding them. Often they're so camouflaged that we don't see them until they rustle the leaves and snatch a moving prey.

Just call it "The Battle Over the Tithonia.

There are no bugs in the film. None. Just because an entomologist is cast in a Hollywood movie, that doesn't mean there will be bugs.

Perhaps it was searching for a thistle. The Mylitta Crescent butterfly (Physiodes mylitta) did not find the thistleat least in our bee garden. What it did find were the leaves of a tower of jewels (Echium wildpretii) where it sunned itself before fluttering off to parts unknown.

There's a good reason why lepidopterists call the Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) "showy." Its bright orange-red wings, spangled iridescent silver on the underside, and a four-inch wingspan all point to "showy.