Bug Squad

Don't go looking for the first-flight cabbage white butterfly of the year in Yolo, Solano and Sacramento counties. The beer-for-a-butterfly contest is over. We have a winner!...drum roll...

Most of us remember the old nursery rhyme, "Good night, sleep tight, and don't let the bed bugs bite," and vow to do everything we can to avoid any blood-letting. Whether we call them "blood suckers," "menace in the mattress," or "human parasites," it's not cool to be bitten by bed bugs.

What's your favorite bug? Inquiring minds want to know. At least one inquiring mind wants to know.

This is the story of what may be three parasitized bumble bees. Or to put it more precisely, three Bombus melanopygus queens. Early this morning, in between dark and dawn, three black-tailed bumble bees buzzed around our porch lights.

They're the bugs you love to hate. Bed bugs, lice, ticks, mites, fleas and mosquitoes. If you want to see and/or learn more about them, attend the Bohart Museum of Entomology's "Snuggle Bugs" open house from 1 to 4 p.m., Sunday, Jan.