Bug Squad

The Sting. (c) Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Bug Squad blog, by Kathy Keatley Garvey of the University of California, Davis, is a daily (Monday-Friday) blog launched Aug. 6, 2008. It is about the wonderful world of insects and the entomologists who study them. Blog posts are archived at https://my.ucanr.edu/blogs/bugsquad/index.cfm. The story behind "The Sting" is here: https://my.ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=7735.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A female Habropoda miserabilis in flight at Bodega Head on May 9. This silver digger bee was heading for mustard and wild radish. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Article

A Silver Digger Bee in Flight at Bodega Head

May 19, 2022
So there we were, checking out the bumble bee mimics (Anthophora bomboides stanfordiana) on May 9 at Bodega Head, Sonoma County, and along buzzes a pollen-packing Habropoda miserabilis, the bee that UC Davis doctoral alumnus Leslie Saul-Gershenz studies.
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A digger bee, bumble bee mimic Anthophora bomboides stanfordiana, warming its flight muscles on Bodega Head on May 9, 2022. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Those Bumble Bee Mimics at Bodega Head

May 18, 2022
If you've ever been to Bodega Head in Sonoma County, you may have marveled at the waves crashing and the whales surfacing. But have you ever seen the digger bees, Anthophora bomboides stanfordiana, aka bumble bee mimics, that nest in the sandstone cliffs? They're there.
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A lone yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, foraging on an ice plant blossom at Bodega Bay. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Bumble Bees at Bodega Bay: Seeing Double

May 16, 2022
What's better than seeing a yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, foraging on an neon pink ice plant at Bodega Bay? Seeing two bumble bees on the same flower. That's what we observed on a recent trip to Doran Regional Park, Bodega Bay, Sonoma County. It was bumble bee heaven.
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