Bug Squad

Bumble bee on bull thistle at Bodega Bay
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A tsetse fly, the work of medical entomologist Geoffrey Attardo. He will deliver a presentation on tsetse flies at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, June 12 in the G Street Wunderbar, 228 G St.
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Got Milk? Got a Question About Tsetse Flies?

June 11th, 2019
Got milk? Got a question about tsetse flies? Yes? Then you'll want to attend the Science Caf presentation on Wednesday, June 7, when medical entomologist and tsetse expert Geoffrey Attardo of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology will discuss Got Milk?
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A lady beetle, aka ladybug, ready to devour aphids, its primary food source. Image taken in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Birds, Bats or a Bloom? But No Splat!

June 9th, 2019
Remember that massive green blob that showed up Tuesday night, June 4 on the National Weather Service (NWS) radar in San Diego, and NWS tweeted it was a a cloud of ladybugs (termed a bloom)? Wait! They may NOT have been ladybugs, scientifically known as lady beetles, family Coccinellidae.
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Robbin Thorp, distinguished emeritus professor of entomology, with Franklin's bumble bee, a bee he had been monitoring since 1998. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Remembering the Legendary Robbin Thorp

June 7th, 2019
We cannot imagine a world without Dr. Robbin Thorp. The distinguished emeritus professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis--he preferred to be known as Robbin--was a global and legendary authority on bees, an amazing person and an incredible scientist.
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A male European wool carder bee patrolling snapdragons in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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European Carder Bees Do Like Snapdragons!

June 6th, 2019
What a show! Last weekend we spotted female European wool carder bees (so named because they collect or card plant hairs for their nests) buzzing in and out of our snapdragons. The bees, about the size of honey bees, are mostly black and yellow.
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A honey bee and a Painted Lady share a mustard blossom in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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The Bee and the Butterfly

June 5th, 2019
The bee and the butterfly. The honey bee and the Painted Lady. Apis mellifera and Vanessa cardui. They both wanted to sip that sweet nectar from a mustard blossom. The Painted Lady was there first. Sometimes it's "first come, first served" and sometimes it's "I'll have what she's having.
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