Bug Blog

No Sweat!

Okay, everybody in the pool! That means bees, too? It does.  Sweat bees. You may have noticed the tiny bees--common name “sweat...

Sweat bee

This is a Lasioglossum (Dialictus) sp. female, as identified by emeritus professor and native pollinator researcher Robbin Thorp of UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Behold the Dragonfly

Some folks wear their heart on their sleeve.   Others wear a dragonfly on their chest. As part of its public outreach...

William Yuen wearing dragonfly t-shirt

UC Davis undergraduate student William Yuen wearing his dragonfly t-shirt. He has worked part-time in the Bohart Museum of Entomology for two years. (Photo by Fran Keller)

White-belted ringtail dragonfly

This is the white-belted ringtail dragonfly from the Bohart Museum of Entomology poster. The poster and dragonfly t-shirts are available at the Bohart Museum, 1124 Academic Surge, UC Davis, or at http://bohart.ucdavis.edu.

Sympetrum by Fran Keller

This spectacular dragonfly photo, taken by UC Davis entomology doctoral candidate Fran Keller, is a Sympetrum sp. that she took in her back yard on July 28, 2007, in North Davis. This is one of her favorite photos. "This picture," she says, "shows how incredibly delicate they are and their legs so slim and yet grasping on the edge of this twig they maintain balance. The eye color reminds me of a watercolor painting and the red on the abdomen is such a contrast to the yellow spots on the thorax."

To Bee or Not to Bee

To bee or not to bee. Not to bee. The flying insect hovering over the Ruth Risdon Storer Garden,  UC Davis Arboretum, looked like a honey bee or wasp at first glance. It...

Aviator

Like a hovering helicopter, the hover fly lingers over flowers in the Ruth Risdon Storer Garden, UC Davis Arboretum. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Gathering nectar

The hover fly, from the syrphid family, works the flowers in the Storer Garden, part of the UC Davis Arboretum. The syphrids, in their larval stage, eat plant-sucking pests or decaying matter, and in their adult stage, they pollinate flowers as they go after the nectar and pollen. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

High-Wire Act

It’s like going to the circus. A bee circus. When you see honey bees gather pollen from a gaura (Gaura linheimeri), it’s as if  they ran off and joined the circus. You'll see hire-wire...

Heading in

A pollen-packin' honey bee heads toward a gaura (Gaura linheimeri). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Ah, a gaura!

The honey bee gives her stamp of approval to the gaura, a perennial also known as "the bee blossom." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Under the Big Top

The honey bee seems to relish being under The Big Top. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Balancing act

The honey bee performs a balancing act on the gaura. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Upside down

The honey bee gathers pollen from a gaura. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

High-wire act

The honey bee dangles from a gaura. And, no net below! (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Cute as a Button (Willow)

A bee on a ball. When it flowers, the button-willow (Cephalanthus occidentalis), also known as willow buttonbush, honey ball, and button ball (oh, that’s so close to butter...

Heading for the Nectar

A honey bee heads for the colorful button-willows (Cephalanthus occidentalis).(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A bee on a ball

A honey bee on a willow-button (Cephalanthus occidentalis) in Yolo County. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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