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May 2025Archived
Field picture submitted by Elizabeth Fichtner

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Bug Squad: Article

The Hunter and the Hunted

May 18, 2010
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
The crab spider is a clever and skillful hunter. Last Sunday we spotted a camouflaged crab spider (family Thomisidae) lying flat on a sedum. The spider's pink and white abdomen blended so well into the pink and white blossoms that you couldn't tell where the abdomen ended and where the flower began.
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Bug Squad: Article

Killer in Our Midst

May 17, 2010
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
There's a killer in our midst, and a chemical ecologist will tell us all about it. The killer: thousand cankers disease. The victim: native black walnuts. The speaker: Steve Seybold.
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Bug Squad: Article

Nasty Little Parasites

May 14, 2010
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
If you have a bee hive, you most likely have mites. Varroa mites, those blood-sucking parasites that latch onto the brood and also thrive on the adult bees, can weaken and destroy a hive.
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Bug Squad: Article

In Mint Condition

May 13, 2010
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Our catmint is in mint condition. So is the cat. The catmint (Nepeta mussinii) is a member of the mint family (Lamiaceae or Labiatae). It's a perennial with two-lipped blue or blue-violet flowers that blooms from spring through fall. It grows so well that it can become invasive. Just like the cat.
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Bug Squad: Article

Itsy Bitsy--Not!

May 12, 2010
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
It wasn't an itsy bitsy spider. And it didn't climb up the water spout. It was climbing all over the tower of jewels, ready to stalk and pounce on prey.
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Bug Squad: Article

Following the Trail of Ants

May 11, 2010
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
When the ants come marching in, Andrea Lucky will be right there. Ant specialist Andrea Lucky, who will receive her doctorate in entomology on June 10 from UC Davis, will speak on the evolutionary history of ants on Wednesday, May 12 in 122 Briggs, UC Davis.
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Bug Squad: Article

Wild About Wild Radish

May 10, 2010
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Honey bees are wild about the wild radish. It's not an invasive weed to them. You'll see bees foraging among stands of wild radish along roadsides, pastures and other disturbed areas.
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Bug Squad: Article

A Taste of Honey

May 7, 2010
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
When the Antioch Charter Academy, a middle school in Contra Costa County, toured the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis on Tuesday, May 4, they learned all about honey bees and native bees.
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Bug Squad: Article

A Honey of a Plant

May 6, 2010
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's not the prettiest of plants. It looks somewhat like a thistle. No matter. The honey bees love it. Lacy phacelia (Phacelia tanacetifolia), a leggy three-foot plant with clusters of light blue to purple flowers, attracts not only honey bees but syrphid flies, bumbles bees and other pollinators.
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