Backyard Orchard News
Everybody Eats in the Pollinator Garden
Everybody eats in the pollinator garden. That includes crab spiders that sprawl atop a flower,...
A crab spider, on a Mexican sunflower, eating a green bottle fly. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A crab spider, on a blanketflower, eating a female Halictus tripartitus, as identified by Robbin Thorp, UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A crab spider, on a spent blanketflower (Gaillardia) eating a honey bee. It is joined by "freeloader flies," family Milichildae. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The San Joaquin Valley battle against Aedes aegypti, the mosquito that spreads Zika.
The UC Mosquito Research Laboratory at Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center is the epicenter of California research on the Aedes aegypti mosquito, a tiny, black and white mosquito that can spread the Zika virus.
Aedes aegypti were first identified in California in June 2013, when they were found in the San Joaquin Valley communities of Clovis and Madera. They have now been detected in certain Fresno County neighborhoods, plus the Bay Area, and Southern California, according to the California Department of Public Health.
To date, the Zika virus hasn't been found in the California mosquitoes, however with thousands of Americans traveling to Brazil for the 2016 Olympics, plus travelers regularly visiting other countries with outbreaks of Zika, some could be carriers of the virus when they come home.
Entomologist Anthony Cornel, Ph.D., is working with the Consolidated Mosquito Abatement District (CMAD) on research projects aimed at controlling this new mosquito menace. Strategies include: developing effective insecticide treatment strategies, making the female mosquitoes infertile, reducing standing water where mosquitoes breed, and using genetics to understand mosquito population movement. Read more.
The Unseen World of Gulf Fritillaries
Let's celebrate the Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae). If you have a passionflower vine...
Gulf Fritillaries mating in the passionflower vine. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A newly laid Gulf Frit egg (on right) and an older Gulf Frit egg on the left. The egg is about the size of the period at the end of this sentence. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A hungry caterpillar getting its fill of passionflower vine, Passiflora. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A newly eclosed Gulf Fritillary hangs onto its chrysalis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae, sips nectar from Lantana. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Lindcove welcomes a new modular office building
Lindcove Research and Extension Center received funds this year from UC Ag and Natural...
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Where's the Praying Mantis?
It's one of the most recognizable of all insects--if you can find it. Ever had someone poke you...
Where's the praying mantis? Look closely on the milkweed and you'll find it. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Time to climb. A praying mantis looking for prey on a milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A good spot to hang out. A praying mantis hanging upside down on a milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey
A praying mantis engages in a little grooming as it nears the top of a milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
On top of the world--on top of a milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)