"Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee."

Early in his career, the late heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali (1942-2016) drew international headlines  when he uttered that remark before his 1964 fight with then champion Sonny Liston.

It was all over by the seventh round when "The Greatest" emerged victorious. But his comment regarding butterfly and bee behavior lives on.

Would an entomologist say "Float like Lepidoptera, Sting Like Hymenoptera?"

That begs the question--were any bug people ever champion boxers?  

Yes, the late James H. Oliver Jr. (1931-2018) was a Golden Gloves champion.

Two years before Oliver died,  entomologist Marlin Rice, a past president of the Entomological Society of America, interviewed him for American Entomologist (Volume 62, Issue 4, Winter 2016), pointing out: "James H. Oliver, Jr. is Fuller E. Callaway Professor of Biology Emeritus at Georgia Southern University and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Oliver is widely recognized as an international expert in medical entomology and acarology, especially the biology and cytogenetics of pathogen-transmitting ticks and parasitic mites."

And Oliver was a Golden Gloves state champion.

Rice asked him a series of questions, including:

"Were you a good student?"

Oliver: "No, not very. I was a good school athlete and party guy. [Laughs.]

You went into boxing at the University of Georgia? Were you a good boxer?

Oliver: "Yeah. I won the state championship in my weight—the Golden Gloves."

Did you ever get knocked out boxing?

Oliver: "No."

Did you ever knock out an opponent?

Oliver: Yeah. [Laughs.]

What's the quickest round you ever won?

Oliver: "Probably second or third round. I was so good at it because I was in good physical condition—great physical condition. I had a coach that said the one's that's in the best physical condition and can keep his left jab going all the time and don't try for a knockout—just hammer him [would win]. It was very good advice, because after the second round my opponent would usually get arm weary and I'd block him by keeping my hands up. That's how I won most of my fights, out of pure physical condition, and I was coordinated and fast. So then I found what I wanted to do; I'm not going to be a veterinarian, I'm going to be a boxer—a professional boxer! Well, that wasn't well thought out. [Laughs.] My brother, and he was always a scholar, said, “My god, you can't do that. You're going to have a brain concussion!” “Yeah, but I'm quick.” I was finally talked into not doing that and leaving the University of Georgia. I went to Georgia Southern 'cause it was only 50 miles away from home and I liked teaching as well. So I'll become a high school biology teacher and coach. That was my goal for several years until I decided I don't want to do that." (Read the entire interview here.)

So, yes, at least one entomologist was a boxing champion. Another professional boxer went into pest control following his retirement.  Mike "Irish Mike" Jameson fought the likes of Mike Tyson, George Foreman, Evander Holyfield and  Randall “Tex” Cobbs  before fighting bugs, landing a job as a pest control inspector with Clark Pest Control, Lodi, Calif., according to a feature story on pctonline.com.)

Did they ever say "Float like Lepidoptera,  sting like Hymenoptera?"

Well, maybe they said "flutter" instead of "float?"   

Gotta love that Gray Hairstreak.

If you don't like putting "gray" and "hair" in the same sentence, not to worry.

This is the butterfly, Strymon melinus.

When the it's hanging around a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola, the orange spots on its tail accent the color of the flower.

"Adults visit an immense variety of flowers, both wild and cultivated," writes Art Shapiro, UC Davis distinguished professor of evolution and ecology on his website. "They are particularly addicted to Heliotrope and white-flowered Apiaceae."

"This is one of the most polyphagous butterflies known, recorded on host plants in many families. Its most frequent hosts in our area are mallows, including the weedy species of Malva; legumes, including Spanish Lotus (Lotus purshianus), Bird's-Foot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus), White Clover (Trifolium repens) in lawns, Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) and many others;and Turkey Mullein (Eremocarpus or Croton setigerus, Euphorbiaceae)."

The Gray Hairstreak is considered a weedy butterfly. "Weedy," as  Shapiro explains on his web site, "is a general term for organisms that are typically associated with habitats that are disturbed by human activities or are dominated by non-native, invasive plants."

At first glance, you don't know "which end is up"--which makes it all the better for the butterfly to escape predators. 

This one allowed me to get quite close. It was more interested in the nectar than the slow movement of the long lens. 

So here we have two cabbage white butterflies, a male and a female, fluttering around the catmint (Nepata) and lavender (Lavendula) in our pollinator garden.

Throughout the year, we haven't been seeing this species, Pieris rapae, much--and neither has Art Shapiro, UC Davis distinguished professor of evolution and ecology who has been monitoring all the butterfly populations of the Central Valley since 1972.  Usually, cabbage whites are quite prevalent. (See his research website.) As you may remember, he sponsors the annual "Beer-for-a-Butterfly Contest." The first person to collect the first cabbage white of the year--in Yolo, Sacramento or Solano counties--receives a pitcher of beer or its equivalent. It's all for scientific research; he's studying the first flights of this species. 

But back to the two cabbage whites fluttering in our garden. One seemed quite interested in the other. A suitor?

In one image (below), they both raised their abdomens. 

They were exhibiting typical courtship behavior, Shapiro said. "The male, at right, is scattering pheromone on the female, who by raising her abdomen indicates she isn't interested. This is known in the trade as 'tail in the air.'"

The cabbage white butterfly is also known as the European cabbage butterfly. Shapiro provides interesting information on his website about this species:

"Our only introduced butterfly--from the Old World--this is also one of our weediest, occurring in disturbed habitats from sea level to about 8000.' It even invades riparian woodland and montane coniferous forest habitats in summer. We are not certain how or when it reached our area. We know the species was introduced in southern Canada in the 1850s; the great Lepidopterist Samuel H. Scudder traced its spread, but was unable to resolve the history on the West Coast. It was not in San Francisco in the early 1880s, but was abundant by the time of the earthquake (1906). There is a mysterious specimen sent by the early collector Lorquin to Tryon Reakirt in Philadelphia, which may have been collected at Yreka in Gold Rush days. Was there an early introduction by the Spanish during the Mission Period?"

"In a typical year, after overwinter mortality, numbers of this species rise rapidly to a peak in late spring, exploiting almost unlimited quantities of host plants (weedy mustards). Then all the annual hosts (Brassica and Raphanus) die off by the 4th of July, and the butterfly is forced to contract down to local pockets of hosts that remain green in summer--cultivated Crucifers and Nasturtiums, the perennial mustard Hirschfeldia incana, and the aggressive weed Tall White-Top or Perennial Peppergrass, Lepidium latifolium. This last plant has invaded the western Great Basin, producing virtual monocultures along the Truckee River and other watercourses, and spreading the butterfly into areas where it had been rare or absent not so long ago."

Agriculturists probably wish the cabbage white butterflies would be more absent, as the larvae, known as "imported cabbageworms," are pests of crucifer crops such as cabbage, kale, bok choy and broccoli. (See the Pest Management Guidelines on the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management website.)

As for the two in our garden this week, the female lingered for a little more nectar.  The male butterfly fluttered silently away. 

Rejection.  Rejection in the butterfly world.

Ready or not, here I come!

"Wait, can you slow down a bit?" I ask. "I can't focus when you move so fast!"

No, sorry! I'm in a hurry!

Anthophora urbana, a solitary, ground-nesting bee, frequents our garden to forage on the catmint (Nepeta) and lavender (Lavandula). This bee is also called an urbane digger bee (see BugGuide.net).

This one encountered a honey bee, partly obscured by the foliage, but neither seemed bothered.

California is home to more than 1600 wild bees, including A. urbana, according to the University of California-authored book, California Bees and Blooms: A Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists (Heyday). They "populate and pollinate our gardens, fields, and urban green spaces," the authors say. 

That they do. And there's a very good reason why this bee is photographed more often on flowers than in flight. 

Sorry, I'm in a hurry!