Bug Blog
'Insects Unlocked': How You Can Make It Happen
If you've ever wanted free access to incredible macro images of insects and spiders, this is it. Images of arthropods in the public domain that you can download. Free. For. All. Noted insect...
Alex Wild's portrait of a Mexican honey wasp, San Antonio, Texas. This public domain image is among the images in the newly launched "Insects Unlocked" Project. Donations are being accepted to make it all happen.
Alex Wild's image of a Californian Pseudomyrmex twig ant. This is one of the images in "Insects Unlocked."
This is Alex Wild's image of a paper wasp stinger, Polistes carolina, in Texas.
It Was All the Buzz
It was all the buzz. Visitors at the annual California Agriculture Day, held Wednesday, March 18 on the west lawn of the State Capitol, made a beeline to the California State Beekeepers'...
Extension apiculturist emeritus Eric Mussen of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology talks to the crowd. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Legislative aide Tony Madrigal (right) asks Extension apiculturist emeritus Eric Mussen questions about colony health. Madrigal is an aide for Assemblyman Luis Alejo. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Readying the honey sticks for the crowd are beekeepers (from left) Bill Cervenka, Bob Sugar and Carlin Jupe and Extension apiculturist emeritus Eric Mussen. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Admiring the bees is Barbara Arciero, managing editor of California Bountiful magazine. With her is beekeeper Wendy Mather. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Honey bees going about their bees-ness. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Sold on the Salvia
Ever watched Valley carpenter bees (Xylocopa varipuncta) foraging on salvia? Native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, distinguished professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis,...
A female Valley carpenter bee, Xylocopa varipuncta, forages on grape-scented sage, Salvia melissodora. Note the "pollen cap." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Check out the "pollen cap" on this female Valley carpenter bee, Xylocopa varipuncta, foraging on grape-scented sage, Salvia melissodora. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Luck Be a Lady! (A Painted Lady)
The "Painted Ladies" are back in the Davis area. These are not the two-legged type, but the winged type--Vanessa cardui. They're migrating and driving UC Davis entomology and ecology students nuts....
A Painted Lady, Vanessa cardui, nectaring on lantana. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Eating o' the Green
It was not the greatest of St. Patrick's Day surprises. A green lacewing nailed by a garden spider? And on the porch light fixture? So true. Green lacewings, beneficial insects that they are (the...
If you look closely, this green lacewing that fluttered onto a porch light fixture, is not alone. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Deep in the shadows, a garden spider feasts on a green lacewing. The spider is a Western spotted orb weaver, Neoscona oaxacensis, as identified by senior museum scientist Steve Heydon of the Bohart Museum of Entomology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)