Test PB Collection: FTE

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The purple trailing lantana (Lantana montevidensis) is a butterfly magnet. In our yard, it draws gulf fritillaries, Western tiger swallowtails, cabbage whites, and fiery skippers. Lately, fiery skippers (Hylephila phyleus) are the main draw.

A link to the July 29 press release from the Weed Science Society of America on several invasive weeds in the primrose (Ludwigia) family. The article features information from Dr. Brenda Grewell, USDA-ARS Ecologist who is located at UC Davis (just down the hall from yours truly).

Bagrada bug nymph on a dried mustard plant. Photo by Surendra Dara Compared to the number of queries I received last year, it has been fairly quiet about the Bagrada bug infestations.

Robbin Thorp saw it first. Talk about an eagle eye. Thorp, a native pollinator specialist and emeritus professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis, was monitoring the Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven on Bee Biology Road, UC Davis, on July 23 when something caught his eye.

It's a glorious summer day and butterflies are fluttering in the breeze. They are Nature's flying flowers, Nature's stained glass windows, and Nature's sunny smiles.

Today is the fourth in a series of posts outlining current University of California weed science research published in the California Weed Science Society (CWSS) Research Update and News (June 2013, Volume 9, #2).

Watching honey bees zero in on the zinnias: Zounds! Zinnias, known throughout the world as showy and easy-to-grow flowers, are as colorful as they are attractive to bees. Last week we watched a honey bee head toward a zinnia, grab some nectar, buzz around the blossom, and return again and again.

Kassim Al-Khatib, Director of the UC-Statewide Integrated Pest Management (UC-IPM) Program, sent a couple links about the identification of Palmer amaranth and comparison to other amaranth (pigweed) species.

Bougainvillea mealybug, Phenacoccus peruvianus was recently found in Los Angeles County. Dr. Gevork Arakelian, Senior Biologist, Los Angeles County Department of Agricultural Commissioner/Weights and Measures prepared this report.