Backyard Orchard News
Bodil Cass and 'The Curious Case of Katydids in California Citrus'
What an interesting and innovative title: "The Ecoinformatics and the Curious Case of Katydids in...
Postdoctoral researcher Bodil Cass will speak on "The Ecoinformatics and the Curious Case of Katydids in California Citrus" at a seminar on Oct. 25 at UC Davis. Here's a photo of the fork-tailed katydid, Scudderia furcata, that she studies. (Photo by Bodil Cass)
In this image, fork-tailed katydids are all over citrus as part of a research project by postdoctoral scholar Bodil Cass of the Jay Rosenheim, UC Davis. (Photo by Bodil Cass)
Close-up of a fork-tailed katydid. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Orange You Glad It's Almost Halloween?
You can't get any more Halloween than a bold (daring) jumping spider with orange...
Orange you glad it's almost Halloween? A juvenile bold jumping spider, Phidippus audax, hangs out on a showy milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A predator, a bold or daring jumping spider, crawls around on a showy milkweed. Note its iridescent chelicerae. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
My safe place! The bold or daring jumping spider peers out at its surroundings. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
UC Davis Lecture by Science Journalist Richard Harris: Why You Shouldn't Miss This
"Biomedical science was not always the hypercompetitive rat race that is has become in recent...
"Rigor Mortis," by Richard Harris, is both an eye-opener and a call to action. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Musical Flowers: Jockeying for Position
You've heard of "musical chairs," that anxiety-driven elimination game involving chairs, music and...
A black syrphid fly aims for the same Mexican sunflower, occupied by another syprhid fly. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
I'm outta here! The hover fly (probably Eristalis tenax) lifts off. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Not giving up and still jockeying for position, the two hover flies try to claim the same flower. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Ah, all mine. A black hover fly or Mexican cactus fly claims a Tithonia blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Autumn's Majesty: Tithonia
If there's any flower that should be crowned "Autumn's Majesty," that would be the Mexican...
A Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae, lands on a Mexican sunflower. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
In a sea of nearly spent Mexican sunflowers, a lone migrating monarch, Danaus plexippus, finds food. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A honey bee, Apis mellifera, takes a liking to the Tithonia, aka Mexican sunflower. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A skipper, family Hesperiidae, hangs out on the Tithonia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The wings of a black hover fly or syrphid, aka "Mexican cactus fly" (Copestylum mexicanum), gleam in the sunlight. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Predators hang out on the Mexican sunflower, too. A crab spider, family Thomisidae, waits for prey. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)