Bug Squad

Bumble bee on bull thistle at Bodega Bay
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A milkweed bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus, as identified by curator Michael Pirrello of iNaturalist) peers over the leaf of a milkweed plant, Asclepias speciosa, in a Sonoma County. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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The Red Invaders: Those Colorful Milkweed Bugs

August 28th, 2019
If you've been finding more milkweed bugs than monarchs on your milkweed, join the crowd. Monarchs are scarce--at least around Solano and Yolo counties--but milkweed bugs are quite plentiful.
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First in series: A male European wool carder bee (Anthidium manicatum) targets a female foraging on a snapdragon. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Love Is in the Air...er...in the Snapdragons

August 26th, 2019
Love is in the air. Or, more specifically, in the snapdragons. If you maintain a pollinator garden, you've probably seen female European wool carder bees (Anthidium manicatum) nectaring on flowers or scraping or carding fuzz for their nests.
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An assassin bug drills a pest, a spotted cucumber beetle. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Let's Hear It for Biocontrol, Integrated Pest Management

August 23rd, 2019
Let's hear it for biocontrol. You've seen lady beetles, aka ladybugs, preying on aphids. But have you seen an assassin bug attack a spotted cucumber beetle? No? How about a crab spider munching on a stink bug? All biocontrol, part of integrated pest management (IPM).
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A female praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata (as identified by praying mantis expert Lohit Garikipati of UC Davis) eyes a duskywing butterfly, genus Erynnis, nectaring on verbena. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Just Look, Don't Take?

August 22nd, 2019
When we last left Ms. Mantis, a female Stagmomantis limbata residing in our verbena patch, she was munching on a honey bee. A successful ambush stalker, she was. But not always. Her plan to take down a duskywing butterfly, genus Erynnis, didn't go so well.
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