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.
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.
We often hear of "cream of the crop," but the honey bee is the "queen of the crops." Honey bees are crucial to Californias $32 billion agriculture industry.
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.
The secret's out. Or, rather, the secret's in. Inside. A number of years ago, UC Davis entomologist Diane Ullman created a ceramic sign outside the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, located on Bee Biology Road, west of the UC Davis campus.
UC Davis forensic entomologist Robert Kimsey is a genius, to be sure. Show him a fly and he'll tell you exactly what it is and what it's all about. I shot this photo at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis. The honey bee looked huge and the fly, tiny.
What are insect pollinators worth to the global economy? Well, it's a lot less than the Wall Street bailout...er...rescue plan. Recent research published in the journal Ecological Economics reveals just how important insect pollinators are.
If you spot a ladybug, don't just start reciting "Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home." Aim, click and shoot. With a camera, that is. Agricultural Research Service scientists and entomologists at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.
They danced in it, rolled in it, and bathed in it. The honey bees just couldn't get enough of the rock purslane (Calandrinia grandiflora). Last week when we visited Vacaville's El Rancho Nursery and Landscaping. nursery, owned by Ray and Maria Lopez, it was like a free-for-all at the French Laundry.
If you love pomegranates, you can thank a honey bee. If you love capturing images of pomegranates, you can thank a honey bee. And, if you love juicing them and making pomegranate jellyas I doyou can thank a honey bee. The honey bee makes it all possible.
