Bug Squad
UC Davis ENT Seminars: Look Who's Speaking
From honey bees to butterflies to nematodes--those will be some of the topics when the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology hosts its fall quarter seminars. The seminars begin Monday afternoon, Sept. 30 and continue every Monday through...
Honey bees will be among the topics at the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology fall quarter seminars. This bee is heading toward gaura in early morning. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
On Sept. 6, 2016, It Happened
On Sept. 6, 2016, it happened. A monarch fluttered into our pollinator garden in Vacaville and touched down on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola. It wasn't just "any ol' monarch"--if there's ever such a thing as "any ol'...
This monarch, tagged and released in Ashland, Ore., on Aug. 28, 2016, touched down in a Vacaville garden on Sept. 6, 2016. It flew 285 miles in 7 days or about 40.7 miles per day, according to WSU entomologist David James. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Tiger and a Tithonia
When a tiger meets a Tithonia, or a Tithonia meets a tiger, Nature bursts forth in all its glory. Such was the case when we spotted a Western tiger swallowtail, Papilio rutulus, foraging for nectar on a Mexican sunflower,...
A Western tiger swallowtail lands on a Mexican sunflower and begins to nectar. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Western tiger swallowtail decides that "leaving" is good. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The "tiger" begins to make a quick exit. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Tail up, and off it goes, the Western tiger swallowtail caught in flight. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Gulf Frit and Tithonia: Showstoppers
The Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae, and the Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola, seem made for one another. Both are a showy orange. Both are show-stoppers. And both attract a photographer's eye. Especially when a Gulf Frit flutters...
A Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae, fluttering over a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Bee and the Mantis
So here's this praying mantis, a female Mantis religiosa, tucked beneath a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola, in a Vacaville garden. She's as still as a stone, and you know how still stones are. Along comes a honey bee,...
A honey bee forages on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola, as a female praying mantis, Mantis religiosa, perches below. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)