Bug Squad

Our cat used to catch them. She'd bring them into the house and watch them flutter at our feet. The white-lined sphinx moth (Hyles lineata) flies during the day and at night. It's not a graceful flier. It bumbles along like Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose on empty. With a wing span between 2.7 and 3.

It's easily missed because it's only a fraction of an inch long. But the color--a brilliant red--is right there. It's a little difficult to see on a red pomegranate, but it's there. What's there? The nymph of a leaffooted bug (Leptoglossus zonatus).

Many of us in California have never seen the Western bumble bee (Bombus occidentalis) Many of us never will.

When you first see the leaffooted bug, you know immediately how it got its name. The appendages on its feet look like leaves! This morning we saw one in our catmint (Nepeta) patch.

if you're growing plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae--you know, the plants with the square stalks and opposite leaves--you may see a very tiny reddish-orange visitor. It's so tiny that it's smaller than the leaf of a catmint (Nepeta). Its wing span is probably about 10 to 15 millimeters.