Rangelands

Do you know where your praying mantids are? Water a bush or a plant frequently visited by bees and other pollinators, and if they're in there, they're likely to emerge. Such was the case when a male praying mantis, Mantis religiosa, emerged from our pomegranate bush. No spray zone, please.

Who knew they were declining? Well, ecologists Richard "Rick" Karban Mikaela Huntzinger of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology did. For years, they've been observing meadow spittlebugs along the California coastline.

Hear that buzz? Tomorrow (Saturday, Aug. 18) is National Honey Bee Day. A small group of beekeepers originated the observance back in 2009 to spotlight bees and beekeeping. They petitioned and obtained a proclamation from the U.S.

Go as far as you can [young scientists]. The world needs you badly.E.O Wilson.

This is a follow up article to a blog that my colleague, Guy Kyser wrote back in 2011 titled Purple alert: Common Pokeweed. Since that time, I probably get a dozen or so calls this time of year asking, what is that huge weed growing in my yard with dark black berries and big green leaves.

We look forward to "The Boys' Night Out." Ah, pillow fights, popcorn, and marathon movies on TV, you ask? No. "Boys' Night Out" is when the longhorned male bees in our pollinator garden in Vacaville engage in sleepovers on our Mexican sunflowers (Tithonia) and other blossoms.

Meadow spittlebugs, once very abundant on plants along the California coastline, are declining rapidly or vanishing from their previous habitats, according to ecologists Richard Karban and Mikaela Huntzinger of the University of California, Davis, co-authors of newly published research in the journa...

Move over, teddy bears! There's a new bear in town. Stuiffed toy animals resembling tardigrades, aka "water bears," are all the rage at the Bohart Museum of Entomology's year-around gift shop at the University of California, Davis.

Talk about extremes! Have you ever thought about how some insects have adapted to fire, ice, acid, hot water, salt and the desert? Have you ever seen an ambrosia beetle, a red turpentine beetle, an ice cricket, a brine fly or a sand wasp?

The UC Davis Bohart Museum of Entomology will emphasize "fire and insects" when it hosts an open house, Extreme Insects: Fire and Ice, on Sunday afternoon, Aug. 19. The public event, to take place from 1 to 4 p.m.