- (Focus Area) Environment
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Busy as a bee?
No, as industrious as a Lepidopterist.
Specifically, as industrious and dedicated as Jeff Smith, curator of the moth and butterfly collection at the UC Davis Bohart Museum of Entomology--a collection that an international authority on Lepidoptera praised as “The Gold Standard” of Lep collections.
But more about that later.
Smith, fascinated by insects since his childhood in San Jose, considers entomology “my passion” and the Bohart Museum “my cause.”
You may remember him from back in 2015, when he received a highly competitive
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
(Continued from the July 13th Bug Squad)
Our resident crab spider, family Thomisidae, appears to be an extremely poor hunter. She waits, camouflaged in the lavender patch, as bees buzz around her. They dart away when she lunges at them.
So here I am, a crab spider, as hungry as can be
Does anyone out there feel sorry for me?
"Yes," say the arachnologists. The apiculturists say "no."
Well, I'll just hang out in the lavender and keep lying low.
Hey, looky there! I'm going to fast-track that bee.
Sorry, I am who I am, and...
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
A crab spider, family Thomisidae, lies motionless in a patch of lavender, waiting to ambush a honey bee.
So here I am, a crab spider, as hungry as can be
Does anyone out there feel sorry for me?
"Yes," say the arachnologists. The apiculturists say "no."
Well, I'll just hang out in the lavender and keep lying low.
Hey, looky there! I'm going to fast-track that bee.
Sorry, I am who I am, and I gotta be me.
(Was the spider successful? Or did it experience food insecurity? To be continued)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Blister beetles (family Meloidae) are so named because they emit a poisonous chemical, cantharidin, that can blister your skin. Don't even think about touching them!
Blister beetles can infest alfalfa hay, and are toxic--even deadly--to livestock. See "Blister Beetles" published by the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station.
But did you know that...
Blister beetles are pollinators!
We recently saw a blister beetle eating pollen on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola. We've also seen this insect transferring pollen.
But we have...
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
When you venture into your pollinator garden, look for the beauty, color, diversity and the intensity that surrounds you. You will be astounded.
- A honey bee nectaring on lavender in a soft-pastel scenario.
- A katydid nymph crawling (backlit) on a blanketflower, Gaillardia.
- A Gulf Fritillary butterfly, Agraulis vanillae, nectaring on Lantana
- A praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata, perched on a Cosmo
- A yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, exiting a lavender patch.
You're the gardener, and you'll be using your...