Bug Squad

There's nothing like seeing an admiral at a marina. That would be the Red Admiral butterfly, Vanessa atalanta, at the Berkeley marina. It's often very common in the urban Bay Area, says butterfly expert Art Shapiro, professor of evolution and ecology at the University of California, Davis.

It was a bad day for a butterfly. We stopped by the Ruth Risdon Storer Garden, part of the UC Davis Arboretum, at noon today as triple-digit temperatures climbed to a scorching 103.

Have you ever seen a bee fly, a member of the family Bombylidae? It's about the size of some bees. It buzzes like a bee. But you can quickly tell it's not a bee by its behavior.

You've heard the expression, "wasp waist," in reference to someone's tiny waist? Well, all you need do is look at the waist of the mud dauber wasp, Sceliphron caementarium, and you'll see where that expression originated.

What a wonderful gift! Bee research at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr.