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Female anise swallowtail,Papilio zelicaon, as identified by butterfly expert Art Shapiro of UC Davis, visiting anise at the Benicia Marina. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

Anise Swallowtail: Have You Seen Me?

June 27, 2012
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
An anise swallowtail fluttered in and out of the tall anise bordering the banks of the Benicia Marina. A beautiful sight.
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Praying mantis on Cleveland sage (Salvia clevelandii). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey
Bug Squad: Article

The Waiting Game

June 26, 2012
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
When you visit the Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, the half-acre bee friendly garden planted next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road, UC Davis, don't expect to see just pollinators. There are predators there, too.
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Long-horned sunflower bee tucked in a flowering artichoke. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

Green-Eyed Bee

June 25, 2012
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
So you're poking around in your garden and you see a bee on a flowering artichoke that you've never seen foraging there before. On sunflowers, yes. On artichokes, no. A closer look--and huge green eyes stare back at you. Definitely not a honey bee (Apis mellifera), although its size is comparable.
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Flame skimmer perched on a tomato plant-stake. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

An Old Flame (Skimmer)

June 22, 2012
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Gotta love those flame skimmers. It's a joy to watch these firecracker-red dragonflies (Libellula saturata) make their presence known. They dart over our fish pond, snatch an insect, and then perch on a tomato-plant stake to eat it. Last year another generation did the same thing.
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Male cuckoo leafcutting bee (genus Coelioxys) emerges from the purple strands of an artichoke blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

Purple Paradise

June 21, 2012
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
If you want to attract insects to your garden, plant an artichoke and let it flower. You'll get honey bees, syrphid flies, butterflies, carpenter bees and leafcutter bees. (And well, a few predators, such as spiders and wasps.) Today we saw leafcutter bees (Megachile spp.
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Fig6
UC Rice Blog: Article

Rice Tillering

June 21, 2012
By Luis Espino
The season is advancing and fields are starting to go into tillering. I have always been amazed at the capacity of rice plants to adapt to the conditions of the field, producing more tillers in thin stands and less tillers in dense stands.
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Melyrid beetle (Endeodes insularis) on a poppy petal. (Photo y Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

Not Your Usual Pollinator

June 20, 2012
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Since this is National Pollinator Week, you're probably out celebrating the bees--maybe doing hand stands, cartwheels and pirouettes. But have you ever thought about beetles as pollinators? They are. We spotted this little critter on a California golden poppy at the Sonoma Mission in Sonoma, Calif.
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