Pity the poor caterpillar. Here you are, minding your own business, and this tachinid fly comes along and lays eggs in your head.

Good day for the tachinid fly. Bad day for the caterpillar.

The tachinid fly, from the family Tachinidae, is frequently seen buzzing around flowers, like this one (below) in the Storer Gardens at the UC Davis Arboretum. The adults feed on nectar.

"They're parasites," said Lynn Kimsey, chair of the Department of Entomology and director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology. "They often parasitize Lepidoptera caterpillars by laying eggs in them."

They also lay their minute eggs on plants, which caterpillars ingest. The eggs hatch inside the caterpillar, killing it.

"Inside the victims, the larvae breathe free air by perforating the body wall of the host or by a connection to its tracheal system," write Jerry Powell and Charles Hogue in their book, California Insects.

It is not a pretty sight. But then again, tachinid flies aren't pretty--unless you're another tachinid fly.

If you've ever visited the Storer Gardens, UC Davis Aboretum, you've probably noticed the honey bees enjoying the cenizo(Leucophyllum frutescens), an evergreen shrub with silvery foliage and bell-shaped pinkish-lavender flowers. 

It attracts honey bees and other beneficial insects like kids to a carnival.

It's sometimes called Texas sage, but it isn't a sage. It's in the plantago family and is native to the southwestern United States and Mexico.

Rain drops on the blossoms, bees in the blossoms, and all's right with the world.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then here we go with three thousand!

We often hear of "cream of the crop," but the honey bee is  the "queen of the crops."

Honey bees are crucial to California’s $32 billion agriculture industry. They  pollinate more than 90 different fruit, nut and vegetables crops in the state, says Cooperative Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen of the UC Davis Department of Entomology faculty.
 

Can you name a fruit or nut crop that absolutely depends on honey-bee pollination? So much so that no commerical crop could be produced without cross pollination?  No, not tomatoes! Here are some: almond, avocado, apple (most varieties), apricot (some varieties), cherry, chestnut, lychee fruit, peach (some varieties), pear (some varieties) plum, pomegranate, prune, sunflower, tangelo and tangerine.

Vegetable seed crops dependent on honey-bee pollination? Among them: asparagus, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, celery, Chinese cabbage, collards, cucumber, kale, kohlrabi, leek, melon, mustard, onion, parsley, parsnip, pumpkin, radish rutabaga, squash, turnip and watermelon.

“One third of the American diet is pollinated by bees,” Mussen said.

California leads the nation in almond production, producing nearly all of the crop. “With around 660,000 acres currently in production, and branches bent nearly to the ground on many trees, the industry is due to set another record in nut production (1.46 billion pounds) and production income,” Mussen said. Each acre requires two hives for pollination.

The praying mantis isn't at all concerned about culinary choices.

It doesn't worry about who's coming to dinner, only that dinner will come.

This aggressive, predatory insect will eat just about anything it can get its claws on, entomologists agree. That includes bees, butterflies, grasshoppers, crickets, moths and  flies. It's even been known to catch and feast on small frogs, birds, lizards, mice and snakes--not to mention its own species.   During or after mating, the female often bites off her lover's head and eats him. Sexual cannabalism!

The praying mantis (insect order Mantodea) is difficult to spot. It's camouflaged brown, green or yellow to match its surroundings. You may see it on tree bark, foliage, fallen leaves, sticks 'n stones, blades of grass and flowers. A master of ambush, it perches stealthily, its front legs in a "praying position," as it patiently awaits the first course. Then whoosh! It lashes out and grasps its victim with its spiked forelegs. The ending is not pleasant.

Just be glad that the praying mantis is not human-sized.