The Gulf Fritillary is as fascinating as it is amazing. The showy reddish-orange butterfly (Agraulis vanillae) is making a comeback in the Sacramento-Davis area. In the early 1970s, it was considered extinct in that area.
Let's talk butterfly eggs. Have you ever seen a Gulf Fritillary butterfly laying an egg in the wild? The Gulf Frit (Agraulis vanillae), one of the showiest of all butterflies, is a flash of orange-red as it flutters toward its host plant (genus Passiflora) to lay its eggs.
It's good to see UC Davis research entomologist William "Bill" Reisen named the recipient of the coveted Harry Hoogstraal Medal, to be awarded Nov. 11 in Atlanta, Ga. at the 61st annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH).
Oh, the life of a praying mantis... You can hang upside down like an acrobat, shading yourself from the sun while waiting for prey and avoiding predators. You can crawl beneath dense leaves, the better to ambush, snatch and eat an unsuspecting bee.
