Bug Blog

Tiny Bug, Big Trouble, Great Science

You may have never seen this tiny bug that's causing big trouble. But agriculturists and scientists have. The spotted-wing drosophila (SWD), Drosophila suzukii, is an agricultural pest that is super tiny. It's approximately 2 to 4...

Spotted-wing drosophila (SWD), Drosophila suzuki, on a raspberry. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Spotted-wing drosophila (SWD), Drosophila suzuki, on a raspberry. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

It's Friday Fly Day: How About a Mexican Cactus Fly?

It's Friday Fly Day, when folks post images of flies.  Flies seem to the entomological equivalent of Rodney Dangerfield's "I-don't-get-no-respect" quote. So how about a black syrphid fly, a Mexican cactus...

A black syrphid fly, a Mexican cactus fly, Copestylum mexicanum, foraging on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifolia, in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A black syrphid fly, a Mexican cactus fly, Copestylum mexicanum, foraging on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifolia, in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Jackie-in-the-Box

In your childhood, somebody probably gave you a jack-in-the-box toy, a music box that you crank up, and then the lid springs opens and out pops a wildly dressed clown, startling you and everyone around you. A praying mantis sighting is something...

A female praying mantis, Mantis religiosa, pops up between the petals of a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola. Surprise! (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A female praying mantis, Mantis religiosa, pops up between the petals of a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola. Surprise! (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A Halloween Surprise: A Migratory Monarch

It's beginning to look a lot like...Halloween. If you haven't noticed, stores are gearing up for Halloween with assorted ghosts, goblins and ghouls for you.  We remember Halloween 2023 when a female migratory monarch fluttered into our pollinator...

A migrating monarch butterfly stops on Halloween, Oct. 31 to sip nectar from a milkweed in a Vacaville garden. She was on her way to an overwintering site in coastal California. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A migrating monarch butterfly stops on Halloween, Oct. 31 to sip nectar from a milkweed in a Vacaville garden. She was on her way to an overwintering site in coastal California. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The female monarch spreads her wings. She stopped in Vacaville on Halloween 2023 for some flight fuel while on her way to an overwintering site in coastal California. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The female monarch spreads her wings. She stopped in Vacaville on Halloween 2023 for some flight fuel while on her way to an overwintering site in coastal California. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Battle Between a Butterfly and a Bee

So, here you are, a newly eclosed Western tiger swallowtail, Papilio rutulus, eager to sip some nectar from a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola, in a Vacaville garden. It's a warm, windless day, and you're anxious to score, score,...

A Western tiger swallowtail, aware that a territorial bee is about to attack, raises its tails to ward off the intruder. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A Western tiger swallowtail, aware that a territorial bee is about to attack, raises its tails to ward off the intruder. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Western tiger swallowtail begins to take flight. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Western tiger swallowtail begins to take flight. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Western tiger swallowtail leaps off as the bee draws closer. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Western tiger swallowtail leaps off as the bee draws closer. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Western tiger swallowtail escapes a hit by the longhorned bee. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Western tiger swallowtail escapes a hit by the longhorned bee. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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