Bug Blog
It's Raining Pink in the Storer Garden at UC Davis
When it ought to be raining, it's raining pink. They say you can't fool Mother Nature or outsmart Father Time but that's not the case in the UC Davis Arboretum. A red Japanese apricot, Prunus...
An Italian bee forages in the red Japanese apricot, Prunus mume "Matsubara red." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A honey bee maneuvering on the flowering apricot. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Silver wings glint in the mid-day sun. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Packing yellow pollen, this bee is colony-bound. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
It All Began With Bugs
It all began with bugs. That's where it usually begins when your father is an entomologist. Tom Hammock, son of distinguished professor Bruce Hammock, of the UC Davis Department of...
Tom Hammock, a renaissance man, has authored a graphic novel featuring a girl scientist who solves mysteries in a southern swamp. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug of the Year!
If you're wondering which bug won "Bug of the Year" in Emmet Brady's Insect News Network (INN) radio poll, it's not the honey bee. But there is a "bee" in its name. It's the "long-nosed bee fly." I...
A long-nosed bee fly in the Storer Garden, UC Davis Arboretum. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bumble Bees Apparently Not Parasitized
Apparently they're not parasitized. The three queen bumble bees (Bombus melanopygus) we found circling our porch lights the night on Jan. 9 appear to be fine. Native pollinator specialist...
Newly released queen bumble bee foraging on pansies. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A sip of honey to fuel her flight. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Queen bumble bee heads into the entrance of a nuc box, which may be her new home. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Signs of Life on a Passionflower Vine
If you have a passionflower vine (Passiflora), check to see what insects or stages of insects are making this plant their home. A frost-bitten passionflower vine on a front porch near downtown...
A Gulf Fritillary caterpillar crawling on a stem. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
An empty chrysalis: a Gulf Fritillary butterfly had earlier emerged. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A leaffooted bug on the seed pod of a passionflower vine. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)