Bug Squad

It's often called a "pond damselfly" or a "narrow-winged damselfly." We spotted this brilliant blue damselfly on a Great Valley gum plant (Grindelia camporum) near the Sciences Laboratory Building at the University of California, Davis.

A malaria-proof mosquito? Research news coming out of the University of California, Davis and the University of Arizona labs recently drew international attention; the scientists have genetically engineered mosquitoes that are resistant to malaria parasites.

If you've seen a lot of buckeye butterflies this season, you're not alone. It's a big year for buckeyes, says noted butterfly expert Arthur Shapiro, professor of evolution and ecology at the University of California, Davis. He counts between "30 and 85 a day" in West Sacramento and North Sacramento.

The Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, the half-acre bee friendly garden planted last fall next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road at the University of California, Davis, is more than just a haven for honey bees.

The news is startling, but not totally unexpected. Thousand cankers disease, which infects and kills black walnut trees, has spread from the western United States to the eastern United States. Officials announced Aug. 5 that the disease has been detected in Knox County in east Tennessee.