Bug Squad

So here's this female praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata, camouflaged on a narrow-leaf milkweed, Asclepias fasciculari, in a Vacaville garden. If she thinks she's going to ambush a monarch, she has another think coming. No monarchs in the garden. If she thinks she's going to ambush a bee, no way.

What are the differences between moths and butterflies? That was a key question asked at the Bohart Museum of Entomology's annual Moth Night, held both indoors and outdoors on the UC Davis campus on Saturday, July 20.

They saw the light. The insects, that is. Bohart Museum of Entomology research associate John "Moth Man" De Benedictus and colleagues set up a blacklighting display during the Bohart's annual Moth Night, held July 20, hoping to find a diversity of moths and other night-flying insects.

If you're like me, your heart skips a couple of beats when you encounter a dragonfly, especially the fire-engine red flameskimmer, Libellula saturata.

When a newly eclosed Western tiger swallowtail, Papilio rutulus, lands on a butterfly bush, the colors are striking. The yellow and black butterfly contrasts well on the purple blossoms of Buddleja davidii. While the majestic butterfly is widely loved, the plant, also called summer lilac, is not.