Backyard Orchard News
So Very Territorial!
Whether it's coming or going, you notice this pollinator's presence. The European wool carder bee...
Male European wool carder bee is very territorial. Front, lavender blossoms. Back: pomegranate blossoms.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey
European wool carder bee nectaring lavender. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
European wool carder bee is strikingly beautiful. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
They'll Light Up Your Life
Most scorpions glow under an ultraviolet light, but now a discovery on Alcatraz Island reveals that...
This millipede (Xystocheir dissecta) glows under ultraviolet light. Alexander Nguyen of the UC Davis Entomology Club captured this image on Alcatraz, during one of UC Davis forensic entomologist Robert Kimsey's field trips.
And Now, Your California State Insect...
There's always something special going on at the Bohart Museum of Entomology on the UC Davis...
Egg of a California dogface butterfly. (Photo by Greg Kareofelas)
California dogface butterfly emerging from chrysalis. (Photo by Greg Kareofelas)
Newly emerged California dogface butterfly. (Photo by Greg Kareofelas)
Bumble Bee's Daily Commute?
If you've ever been to Angel Island or Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay, you may have seen...
Yellow-faced bumble bee lands on The Morning Star. (Photo taken with an IPhone)
The characteristic yellow band on the abdomen of Bombus vosnesenskii. The bee landed on the boat and after a 10-minute rest, took off.
Rub-a-Dub-Dub
Ever seen honey bees engaging in washboarding? It's a behavior so named because they look as...
Honey bees engaging in washboarding behavior with "rocking" or up-and-down movements. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Foragers flying back to the hive as their sisters engage in washboarding activity on the wall, or what Susan Cobey calls "sweeping the front porch." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)