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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Primary Image
This wasp, a species of Podalonia, flies off a tropical milkweed at the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden with a load of pollinia, a packet of sticky golden pollen grains. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Article

Pollinia: Like Having Gum on Your Shoes

July 17, 2020
If you've ever stepped in sticky gum, it's similar to what happens when an insect steps into milkweed pollinia. Take the wasps visiting the tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) on Thursday morning, July 16 in the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden.
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A pair of Gulf Fritillaries on a pomegranate tree. Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology, UC Davis, says she receives a number of calls about "two-headed butterflies." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Fifty Shades of Orange--with a Touch of Silver

July 13, 2020
Fifty shades of orangewith a touch of silver. The bridal couple on the pomegranate tree wore orange and silver to celebrate their honeymoon. The bride may have blushed. I don't know. Did she? Don't all brides blush? The groom, in true form, looked quite dapper and dashing. So there they were.
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