A streak of gray, but don't wash it away. The gray hairstreak is a butterfly. We spotted this delicate-looking butterfly (Strymon melinus) on a red pincushion flower (Scabiosa) this week in Winters, Yolo County. Gray on red. Fauna on flora. A Strymon on a Scabiosa.

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ene Robinson of the University of Illinois, shown here following his Jan. 6 talk at UC Davis, is heavily involved in "The Manhattan Project of Entomology." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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'The Manhattan Project of Entomology'

June 16th, 2011

It's been dubbed "The Manhattan Project of Entomology." And it may have "the potential to revolutionize the way we think about insects," says Richard Levine, communications program manager of the Entomological Society of America (ESA). Call it "The Manhattan Project of Entomology.

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Distinctively colored tachinid fly, probably Trichopoda pennipes, on Santolina rosmarinifolia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Not Your Average Lookin' Fly

June 15th, 2011

The feather-legged fly looks as if it were formed by a committee. It's about the size of a house fly, but there the similarity ends. Black head and thorax, hind legs fringed with a "comb" of short black hairs, and an abdomen that's the color of honey--bright orange honey.

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Honey bee heads for flowering artichoke in the Haagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven at UC Davis. Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Let the Artichokes Flower

June 14th, 2011

To attract honey bees to your garden, it's a good idea to let the artichokes flower. Sure, you could pick them for your dinner, but you'd be depriving honey bees of theirs. At the Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven at UC Davis, the artichokes are beginning to flower.

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Pollen-packing honey bee heads toward a rock purslane blossom, already occupied by another worker. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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In the Pink

June 13th, 2011

Honey bees in the pink? Yes. If you plant rock purslane (Calandrinia grandiflora), a perennial succulent, be prepared for a posse of honey bees.

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