You're walking through a park and suddenly spot a dragonfly perched on a stick. "What's that?" you ask. As you edge closer, it takes off. "Missed it!" Well, you won't want to miss the Bohart Museum of Entomology's open house on Sunday, Sept.

View Article

Late afternoon sun gives away the location of this praying mantis hidden in a bed of lavender. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Article

Find the Praying Mantis!

September 3rd, 2015

Whether you call them "praying" mantis or "preying" mantis, one thing is for sure: they are difficult to find.

View Article

A lady beetle, a monarch caterpillar and an infestation of oleander aphids. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Article

How Small Is Small?

September 2nd, 2015

Sometimes in a world of towering skyscrapers, jumbo jets and warehouses big enough to hold a small planet--or at least a state the size of Rhode Island--we don't realize how small small is. Last weekend it was a veritable insect feast on our narrowleafed milkweed.

View Article

A monarch caterpillar chowing down milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Article

Thank You, Mrs. Monarch!

September 1st, 2015

Thank you, Mrs. Monarch. Thank you for laying your eggs on our newly planted narrowleaf milkweed. We planted the narrowleafed milkweed last spring, hoping we could coax you to come.

View Article

A mating pair of praying mantids. At left is the male, soon to lose his head. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Article

Yes, It Happens: Sexual Cannibalism in Praying Mantids

August 31st, 2015

Yes, it happens. We've heard the stories and read some of the scientific literature about what a female praying mantis will do to her partner during the mating process. Sexual cannibalism. She'll bite the head off of her mate and eat it--but the mating process continues unabated.

View Article