As of today, Jan. 17, no one has won the Beer-for-a-Butterfly contest sponsored by butterfly guru Art Shapiro, UC Davis distinguished professor emeritus of the Department of Evolution and Ecology.
You've heard folks call insects "big 'ol bugs" (often in astonishment or terror), right? But have you ever seen a "bigeyed bug on a monarch butterfly?" Bigeyed bugs, Geocoris spp.
If you hate wasps, and brush them off as just "uninvited guests at my picnic," take another look. For one, they're pollinators. Two, they're great predators, contributing to the biocontrol of such lepidopteran pests as cabbageworms (larva of cabbage white butterflies).
They crawl, they fly, they flutter, they buzz. They look at us, and we look back. But if you're Larry Snyder of Davis, an insect photographer and a retired musician, you not only look back, but you take their images.
