Bug Squad

Bumble bee on bull thistle at Bodega Bay

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UC ANR is renovating its website. The Bug Squad blog, by Kathy Keatley Garvey of the University of California, Davis, is a daily (Monday-Friday) blog launched Aug. 6, 2008. It is about the wonderful world of insects and the entomologists who study them. Blog posts are archived at https://my.ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/archive.cfm

A gray hairstreak foraging in sedum. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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A Streak of Gray

September 5, 2013

if it's a streak of gray, you don't wash it away. You welcome it. The gray hairstreak butterfly (Strymon melinus) is common on our sedum, a good fall plant for pollinators, including butterflies, honey bees, sweat bees and syrphid flies, aka hover flies or flower flies.

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Newly emerged Gulf Fritillary butterfly, fresh from its chrysalis, lands on a bed of wood chips. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Just Emerged: Gulf Fritillary Butterfly

September 4, 2013

Call it serendipity. Call it a prize from the sky. Frankly, it's not every day that a newly emerged Gulf Fritillary butterfly, Agraulis vanillae, lands at your feet.

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A honey bee foraging on a blanket flower, Gaillardia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Color Them Hungry

September 3, 2013

As summer nears its end, the honey bees are hungry. That's why Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology advocates that we plant flowers for late summer and fall to help the bees.

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Western spotted orb weaver snares and wraps a honey bee. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Labor Day Travails

September 2, 2013

Today (Labor Day) began just like any other day. And it ended just like any other day, except for the Labor Day celebrations that we humans plan. For Nature's predators and prey that frequent our garden, however, it was an intertwining of life and death.

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A Carniolan honey bee sipping water from a fountain. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Why Honey Bees Need Water

August 30, 2013

Ever seen honey bees foraging for water on your outdoor clothesline? When Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen of the University of California, Davis, addresses beekeeping associations, he tells them to "always provide water for your bees on your property.

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