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LinkedInPosts Tagged: Asclepias speciosa
A Good News Day: Monarchs on the UC Davis Campus
Butterfly guru Art Shapiro, UC Davis distinguished professor of evolution and ecology, has been looking for monarchs all year long on the UC Davis campus--as have scores of others. On Friday, Aug. 26, he met with success. He spotted four within half an hour. It all began with his stroll through...
A monarch butterfly nectaring on a showy milkweed, Asclepias speciosa, in Vacaville, California in June, 2016. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bohart Museum of Entomology associate Greg Karoefelas took this image of a monarch in his backyard in Davis on May 6, 2022. (Photo courtesy of Greg Kareofelas)
Milkweed's New Buddy: It's Not a Monarch
Our showy milkweed (Asclepias speciosa) is putting on a show. The towering plant--a good eight feet--anchors the garden as we patiently wait for monarch butterflies to arrive and lay their eggs. It's mid-August and it appears the monarchs are not coming here to our...
A praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata, hanging out on a milkweed in Vacaville, Calif. after molting. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The exoskeleton that the praying mantis just shed is lying on a milkweed leaf. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Memo to a Mantis
Dear Ms. Mantis, We see you. You're trying to camouflage yourself, but we see you. You're hanging out on a showy milkweed, Asclepias speciosa, trying to catch a butterfly or a bee. So, will you try to nab a monarch? A Mama Monarch that's trying to lay her eggs on her host plant? You...
Find the praying mantis! It's on the showy milkweed, Asclepias speciosa. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A praying mantis lurking beneath a leaf of the showy milkweed, Asclepias speciosa, in a Vacaville, Calif. garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Yes, monarchs are on the menu of the praying mantis. They polish of everything but the wings. This archived image is from Sept. 29, 2015. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Which One Is Not Like the Other?
So here are all these milkweed bugs clustered on a showy milkweed leaf, Asclepias speciosa. It's early morning and the red bugs are a real eye opener. They're seed eaters, but as Hugh Dingle, emeritus professor of entomology, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology says: "They are...
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Orange You Glad It's Almost Halloween?
You can't get any more Halloween than a bold (daring) jumping spider with orange spots! This common North American spider was hanging out yesterday on our showy milkweed, Asclepias speciosa, trying to look like a spectator instead of a predator. The orange spots indicate it's a juvenile...
Orange you glad it's almost Halloween? A juvenile bold jumping spider, Phidippus audax, hangs out on a showy milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A predator, a bold or daring jumping spider, crawls around on a showy milkweed. Note its iridescent chelicerae. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
My safe place! The bold or daring jumping spider peers out at its surroundings. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
