Bug Blog
How to Make an Insect Collection
It's that time of year again. Teachers ask their students to make an insect collection. The project is considered a "rite of passage." However, often the students--whether they be middle...
Robber fly staring at the photographer. A robber fly is one of many insects that students use in "How to Make an Insect Collection." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
To Kill a Monarch
It's a sin to kill a mockingbird, wrote Pulitzer Prize-winning author Harper Lee in her classic novel, "To Kill a Mockingbird." "Mockingbirds don't do one thing except make music for us to enjoy,"...
A praying mantis nails a monarch butterfly on a butterfly bush. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey(
Close-up of the predator and the prey. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A monarch butterfly wing in the foreground; praying mantis in the background. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Privacy, Please!
Privacy, please! You're walking by a patch of lavender and Mexican sunflower (Tithonia) and you notice that two Gulf Fritillaries (Agraulis vanillae) are doing what birds 'n' bees 'n...
Two Gulf Fritillaries doing what comes naturally. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A butterfly passing by prompted this Gulf Frit male to react, by opening its wings.. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A honey bee "photobombs" the mating Gulf Fritillaries. The butterflies immediately flew away, still attached. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
ICE-ing on the Cake!
What a nice move! Especially since the United States is busily restoring diplomatic relations with Cuba. Think entomology. Think ICE. Think ICE'ing on the cake. Think ICE'ing on an...
Female mosquito, Aedes aegypti, also known as "the dengue mosquito," drawing a blood meal. (Photo by James Gathany. United States Department of Health and Human Services)
'Bee' There Oct. 2 In the Bee Garden
Mark your calendar! The UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology has scheduled a fall open house, the last of the season, at its Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven on Friday, Oct. 2 from 5:30...
A viable bee hive is a new addition in the bee garden, which was planted in the fall of 2009.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A view through Orchard Alley of the be garden. Orchard Alley includes almonds, plums and apples. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Gulf Fritillary flying through the garden. The garden includes its host plant, the passionflower vine (not pictured). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)