Posts Tagged: Tidy Tips

Assassins in the Tidy Tips

If you see a patch of California native wildflowers known as "Tidy Tips,"  look closely.

The yellow daisylike flower with white petals (Layia platyglossa) may yield a surprise visitor.

You may see an assassin.

An assassin bug.

A member of the family Reduviidae, this is a long-legged, beady-eyed beneficial insect that stalks its prey and snatches it with its forelegs, somewhat like a praying mantis. It conquers its victim with a squirt of deadly venom from its beak (the collective term for its piercing, sucking mouthparts).

Once it has immobilized its prey, the assassin sucks the bodily contents, like a milkshake slurped through a straw.

The critter below is a assassin bug from the genus, Zelus, according to  Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and professor and vice chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology.

The name, Zelus, originates from Greco-Roman mythology.  Zelus, a winged enforcer, guarded the throne of Zeus.

The assassin bug, true to its name, ambushes, attacks and captures other insects, such as aphids, flies, crickets, mosquitoes, beetles, caterpillars and "sometimes a hapless bee," said Bohart senior museum scientist Steve Heydon.

One thing about the Zelus assassin bug--it does not fly very fast. In fact, it totally ignored the camera poked close to its protruding eyes.

The camera neither looked like or acted like a predator or prey.

No worries.

Patch of Tidy Tips

PATCH OF TIDY TIPS, California native wildflower, planted on the UC Davis campus, behind the Laboratory Sciences Building. If you look closely in the patch, you'll see scores of insects, including honey bees, hover flies, mason bees, ladybugs--and assassin bugs. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Assassin Bug

ASSASSIN BUG, from the genus Zelus and family Reduviidae, waits for prey. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Sip of Nectar

ASSASSIN BUG appears to be sipping nectar from a tidy tip blossom for a quick burst of energy. It preys on small insects, such as aphids, crickets and leafhoppers. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Sun Break: Here Come the Bees

The Tidy Tips are a'blooming and the bees are a'buzzing.

The Tidy Tips, a native California wildflower (Layia platyglossa, family Asteraceae) is a welcome addition to flower beds.

If you walk behind the Sciences Laboratory Building on the University of California, Davis, campus, patches of Tidy Tips abound.

If it's cold, windy and rainy, no honey bees. If we're graced with a "sun break," here come the bees.

Sun break on the Tidy Tips...a sure sign of spring.

Honey Bee on Tidy Tips

HONEY BEE nectaring on Tidy Tips, a native California wildflower. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Close-up

SUN BREAK--no cold, no wind, no rain--means it's time for the honey bees to hit the Tidy Tips on the UC Davis campus. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Tiptoeing Through the Tidy Tips

 It's not spring until you see honey bees, carpenter bees and butterflies on Tidy Tips.

That would be Layia platyglossa, a wildflower native to southern California. Its common name is "Tidy Tips" or "Coastal Tidy Tips." It's a daisylike flower with yellow petals tipped in white, thus the name. It's a member of the aster family.

A flower bed in the center of the UC Davis campus (near the Science  LaboratoriesBuilding) boasts an intermingling of  the yellow-and-white Tidy Tips and sky-blue Desert Blue Bells (Phacelia campanularia).

Gorgeous!

Insects think so, too. On any given day you'll see honey bees, carpenter bees, butterflies and lacewings holding family reunions.

Honey Bee

HONEY BEE visits Tidy Tips (Layia platyglossa) a native California wildflower. This photo was taken April 2 on the UC Davis campus. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Carpenter Bee

CARPENTER BEE visits Tidy Tips (Layia platyglossa) on the UC Davis campus. The insect is so heavy it pulled down the flower stem. The blue flower at right is Desert Blue Bells (Phacelia campanularia).(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Painted Lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui)

PAINTED LADY BUTTERFLY (Vanessa cardui) visits Tidy Tips (Layia platyglossa) on the UC Davis campus. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)