Backyard Orchard News
Bohart Museum Open House: Focusing on Urban Entomology
Mark your calendars! The next open house at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, located in Room 1124...
Booklice are nearly microscopic insects, Liposcelis bostrychophila, or "psocids" (pronounced "so kids"). They are common pests in stored grains. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A lady beetle (aka ladybug) is a beneficial insect in the garden. It eats aphids and other soft-scale insects. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Henrietta and the Drone Fly: The Predator and the Prey
Henrietta, our Stagmomantis limbata praying mantis, perches on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia). She...
Henrietta, our Stagmomantis limbata praying mantis, lies in wait on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia.) (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A drone fly (syrphid) lands on the blossom as a hungry praying mantis watches intently. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
One quick move and praying mantis has dinner. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The spiked forelegs hold the prey in place. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
It's eat and be eaten in the garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Henrietta the praying mantis polishes off the last of the fly but a wing is visible evidence of what happened. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Henrietta and the Ootheca
Talk about the unexpected. “Look!” says Jim. He pauses by the kitchen counter....
Henrietta, a Stagmomantis limbata, hanging out in a patch of Mexican sunflowers. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
This is the ootheca that Henrietta (which means "home ruler") deposited before we released her. The species? Stagmomantis limbata. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Close-up of the ootheca, magnified with a Leica DVM6 microscope operated by Lynn Epstein, UC Davis emeritus professor of plant pathology.
Zeroing in on the Zika Virus
If you're interested in Zika virus research, you'll want to attend Lark Coffey's seminar on...
This mosquito, Aedes aegypti (infected mosqutoes can transmit such diseases as dengue and the Zika virus) will be the focus of Lark Coffey's seminar at 4:10 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 7 in 122 Briggs Hall, UC Davis. (Photo by James Gathany, Centers for Disease Control)
The Frit and the Fly: Who Wins?
The Frit and the fly...or the butterfly and the fly... That would be the Gulf...
The syrphid fly tries to seek some nectar, but the Gulf Fritillary proclaims "This Mexican sunflower is occupied." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The butterfly begins to spread its wings as the syrphid edges closer to the nectar. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The butterfly spreads and flattens its wings. The syrphid does not move. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
"Maybe if come around from a different direction!" the fly seems to say. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
"Ah, all mine!" proclaims the fly. "I scared off the butterfly." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)