Bug Squad

If you see a patch of California native wildflowers known as "Tidy Tips," look closely. The yellow daisylike flower with white petals (Layia platyglossa) may yield a surprise visitor. You may see an assassin. An assassin bug.

The hunters are back. Ladybugs, aka ladybird beetles, are searching for aphids and other soft-bodied insects. If you see a ladybug (family Coccinellidae), odds are you'll see her prey, the plant-sucking aphids.

It's a killer, pure and simple. But the issue is as complex as it comes. The malaria mosquito, from the genus Anopheles, infects some 350 to 500 million people a year, killing more than a million. Most are young children in sub-Saharan Africa.

If you've ever strolled the streets of New York, you probably noticed a few honey bees here and there. Not the HIVES (they're illegal), but the BEES. Tomorrow, the New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene will vote on whether city residents can keep bees in the Big Apple.

Take a close look. What's wrong with the first photo posted below this blog? If you're a beekeeper or someone who's been around bees, you'll know immediately. If not, you may look at the photo and say "Hmm, a honey bee. Yep, it's a honey bee, all right. It's on a what...