Bug Blog
Outstanding Entomologist
Ivana Li's fascinations with insects began in early childhood. She delighted in the insects on her parents' rose buses--the aphids, the ladybugs, grasshoppers and the caterpillars. “I...
Ivana Li with a walking stick. (Photo by Fran Keller, Bohart Museum of Entomology)
Scorpions!
Scorpions--to fear or to revere? The Bohart Museum of Entomology's open house last Sunday drew visitors of all ages who marveled at the scorpions glowing under ultraviolet light. UC Davis...
Scorpion glowing under ultraviolet light at the Bohart Museum of Entomology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
UC Davis entomology undergraduate student Alexander Nguyen flashes a UV light on a scorpion, as Professor Demosthenes Pappagianis, M.D., Ph.D., of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, watches. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
In the Blink of an Eye
In the blink of an eye, they visit the rockpurslane (Calandrinia grandiflora).Now you see them, now you don't.They're a sweat bee, a little larger than most sweat bees, but a little smaller...
Sweat bee, Halictus farinosus, prepares to leave one flower for another. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Sweat bee, Halictus farinosus, foraging in rock purslane. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Getting the Red Out
"Where do bees get red pollen?" we were asked. "We've seen bees packing blood-red pollen at the entrance to a hive."Well, one flower that yields red pollen is rock purslane (Calandrinia grandiflora)....
Honey bee packing red pollen from rockpurslane. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Honey bee heading toward rock purslane. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
So Very Territorial!
Whether it's coming or going, you notice this pollinator's presence. The European wool carder bee (Anthidium manicatum), so named because the female collects or cards "plant hairs" or "plant fuzz"...
Male European wool carder bee is very territorial. Front, lavender blossoms. Back: pomegranate blossoms.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey
European wool carder bee nectaring lavender. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
European wool carder bee is strikingly beautiful. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)