Bug Blog
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)
'Quincing' Our Thirst
You can quench your thirst. And then you can "quince" your thirst. That would be a honey bee on a flowering quince. Yes, the flowering quince are flowering. And none too soon in our drab...
Honey bee keeps a close eye on the photographer. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey(
Honey bee foraging on flowering quince. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bottoms up. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
What's for Lunch?
What's for lunch? If you're a lady beetle (aka ladybug), a good bet is you'll have one of those yummy, plant-sucking aphids. In fact, you'll eat your fill. Please do. Today we walked behind...
Lady beetle, aka ladybug, devouring an aphid. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Predator and the prey. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Saturated. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)