Bug Squad

Incredible. Absolutely incredible. The Western bumble bee (Bombus occidentalis) seems to be making a comeback of sorts in some parts of the West. Reporter Michelle Nijhuis, in an Oct.

There's a "me" in mead. There also could be a "u" in mead, as in "you." There's definitely a honey bee, as without the bee and the honey, there's no mead.

When you visit the Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven on Bee Biology Road, University of California, Davis, be sure to check out the passionflower vine clinging to the fence. You'll see female Valley carpenter bees (Xylocopa varipuncta) seemingly speckled with gold dust.

It was blazing hot that summer day in Winters, Calif. The date: July 22, 2012. The place: a sunfiower field in Winters, Calif.

The world's largest hornet (Vespa mandarinia) is huge. Just how huge? We photographed a two-inch specimen last week at the Bohart Museum of Entomology at UC Davis. Among the insect musem's nearly eight million specimens is the giant hornet.