Some folks mistake the spotted cucumber beetle for a ladybug or lady beetle.

However, unlike the beneficial ladybug, which devours aphids and other soft-bodied insects, the spotted cucumber beetle is a major agricultural pest. The adults, yellowish-green with black spots, feed on the leaves of cucumbers, melons, cotton, beans and ornamentals and can spread viruses. The larvae stunt the roots of corn and other plants. 

Its name is a mouthful: Diabrotica undecimpunctata (which has probably appeared on national spelling bees). True to its name, Diabrotica can be rather diabolical in your vegetable garden or flower bed.

Insect photographers often like to focus on its color and character.

But look closely and you'll also see its path of destruction. 

Rachel Graham (Photo from the Frank Zalom lab website)

Rachel Graham, a master's student in entomology at the University of California, Davis who loves photographing insects, recently submitted an image of a blue dasher, Pachydiplax longipennis, for the Entomological Society of America's 2014 World of Insects calendar.

Dashing news! It won a well-deserved spot in the calendar.  It's the June "bug." The worldwide competition drew more than 400 photos from 84 photographers. Each attendee at ESA's 61st annual meeting, held Nov. 10-13 in Austin, Texas, received a calendar.  (More calendars are available.)

Graham studies with integrated pest management (IPM) specialist Frank Zalom, newly inducted president of the nearly 7000-member ESA. (Zalom is only the second-ever ESA president from UC Davis.)

Graham captured the image at the  Archbold Biological Station in Venus, Fla., in August 2010 when she was participating in a BugShot photography workshop organized by noted insect photographer/entomologist Alex Wild of Illinois. Wild, who received his doctorate in entomology from ant specialist Phil Ward, UC Davis professor of entomology, writes the popular Myrmecos blog and the Compound Eye blog for Scientific American.

Graham recalled that she photographed the blue dasher "on the very first day of the workshop" with her Canon 60D and a 100mm macro lens, shooting at an ISO of 200, f-stop of 6.3 and a shutter speed of 1/40. No flash. No tripod. 

The dragonfly species is widespread throughout North America. It's common, but Rachel Graham's photo isn't!

This isn't Rachel Graham's first major photography honor, either. One of her images made the Cornell Ornithology Celebrate Urban Birds 2011 calendar. And earlier this year, she won the People’s Choice Award at the 6th annual UC Davis Graduate Student Symposium in Ecology.  Her winning photo depicted a jumping spider eating a hover fly. 

Graham, an IPM specialist who plans a career in science education and outreach, recalled that she "began photographing insects for a class assignment at UC San Diego in 2010, and have not been able to stop."

Let's hope she never does!

As fall fades and winter beckons, we're still seeing skipper butterflies foraging in cosmos, lantana and other flowers.

Lepidopterans study 'em but we just admire 'em.

Distinguishing characteristics of skippers include "clubs" on the tips of their antennae, and those huge, compound eyes.

The skippers (family Hesperiidae) "are a worldwide family of about 3500 species that appear to be 'sister' to the rest of the 'true butterflies,'" says butterfly expert Arthur Shapiro, professor of evolution and ecology at the University of California, Davis, on his website. "The clubs on the tips of the antennae are usually hooked. Our California skippers fall into two or three subfamilies: the spread-wing skippers (Pyrginae), the folded-wing skippers (Hesperiinae), and the Heteropterinae."

The butterfly is one of the most popular of tattoes. Odds are, however, you'll see a graceful monarch or a striking western tiger swallowtail inked on someone's skin, not a common skipper.

Ask.com, when asked "What is the meaning of a butterfly tattoo?", replied (British version): "The butterfly tattoo symbolises grace and beauty. The beautiful patterns and colours on the wings of the butterflies are undeniably attractive. The connotation and symbolism of butterfly tattoo designs is as well related to psych and spirituality."

"Butterfly" means "psyche" or "soul" in Greek.

Next time you see a skipper, think of it as a "soul" on a flower.  A clubbed soul.

All that glitters may be beetles--jewel beetles.

You'll want to attend the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house on Saturday, Nov. 23 from 1 to 4 p.m. to bask in the theme, "Beauty and the Beetles."

The museum, located on the UC Davis campus in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane, houses nearly eight million insect specimens, plus a live "petting zoo" and a gift shop. The open house is free and open to the public. The museum is people friendly, family friendly and bug friendly. 

And the beetles?

"Beetles are awe inspiring because they are so different,” said Fran Keller,  who is completing her requirements this year for a doctorate in entomology. She studies with major professor Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and professor of entomology in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.

“As a human, I and the 7 billion people on the planet are only one species, Homo sapiens," Keller said. "But the insect Order Coleoptera, or beetles, has more than 360,000 species. Beetles have the greatest diversity of all the insects. Butterflies are big and showy, but beetles can be. too. On a ladybug, which is really a beetle and not a bug, those red and black spotted front wings are called elytra. Beetle elytra are not used for flying so beetles actually fly with one pair of wings. But those elytra help protect them because they can be very tough and sometimes incredibly flashy to warn off predators.”

Keller  said that “If you can think of an ecological  niche there is probably a beetle there taking advantage of the resources. Believe it or not, there is a beetle that is a parasite and lives in the butt of a beaver. Beetles are truly amazing and although I am partial to the flightless, black tenebrionids, I do collect and appreciate the beauty of all beetles. Okay, maybe I don't collect the beaver butt parasite beetle but wow, who would have thought beetles would be there!”

Keller, who noted that Darwin was an avid beetle collector and enthusiast, acknowledged that she has many "favorite groups of beetles," but "one of my favorites has to be the jewel beetles. Most of them are pests but they are very stunning, hence the name jewel beetle. There are so many different types of beetles that we know of or that have been described but there are still so many that await discovery."

So, all you beetle fans and would-be beetle fans, head over to the Bohart Museum on Saturday afternoon. There will be arts and crafts for the youngsters (and adults, too, if they wish!) Find out more here.