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LinkedInPosts Tagged: UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management
Spiked Forelegs of a Praying Mantis: There Is No Escape
A praying mantis, an incredible ambush predator, can lie in wait for hours for its prey. Often it's so camouflaged that it totally blends in with its habitat. It can rotate its head 180 degrees--and nothing, it seems, can escape its view. Praying mantises are not considered biological pest...
This praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata, has just ambushed a honey bee and is grasping it in its spiked forelegs. There is no Harry Houdini-kind of escape. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Death grip. With its two spiked forelegs, the praying mantis firmly grasps the honey bee. Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Those Goofy-Looking Cartoon Characters Called Crane Flies
Back in April of 2021, we wrote: "They're out there, and you don't have to crane your neck to see them." The topic: crane flies. They're often mistakenly called "mosquito eaters" or "mosquito hawks." They're neither. They're members of the family Tipulidae of the order Diptera (flies). Lynn...
A crane fly resting in a Spanish lavender bed in Vacaville, Calif. Crane flies are sometimes called "mosquito eaters," but they do not eat mosquitoes. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Of Lady Beetles and Green Fruit Beetle Larvae
Make way for the beetles! Lady beetles, green fruit beetle larvae, and stick-on bug tattoos drew inquisitive and appreciative crowds when the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program (UC IPM) staffed an informational booth at Briggs Hall during the 109th annual UC Davis Picnic...
Ready to field questions are these representatives of the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program: Karey Windbiel-Rojas (left), associate director for Urban and Community IPM/Area IPM Advisor, and IPM educator Lauren Fordyce. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Karey Windbiel-Rojas, associate director for Urban and Community IPM/Area IPM Advisor, answers a question. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Youngsters and adults alike enjoyed watching and holding the green fruit beetle larvae. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Teagan Pelusi, 4, of Pleasant Hill, is fascinated by a green fruit beetle larva. "We love learning about bugs," said her father Christopher Van Steyn, as the larva captivated her interest. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Diego Rojas (left) and his brother, Spencer Rojas, offered information about invasive pests as they gave away stick-on (temporary) tattoos. Their mother, Karey Windbiel-Rojas, a UC IPM administrator, was at an adjacent table. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Guess the stick-on tattoos? From left are a Chinese red-headed centipede (Scolopendra subspinipes mutilans); a tarantula hawk (Pepsis heros); and a hickory horned devil caterpillar of a regal moth (Citheronia regalis). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Lady Beetle Lovers, Unite!
Luck be a lady! Little kids love selecting lady beetles, aka ladybugs, at the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management (UC IPM) booth at Briggs Hall during the annual campuswide UC Davis Picnic Day. The excitement, the capture, the I-get-to-take-these-home-and-put-them-in-my-garden...
A lady beetle, aka ladybug, gets ready to devour an aphid. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Get in line! A lady beetle devouring oleander aphids. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The larvae of lady beetle devour aphids, too. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A lady beetle and her eggs. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Good Day for a Praying Mantis
It was a good day for a praying mantis. It was not a good day for a honey bee. Here's what happened in the "Daily Insect News": a gravid praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata, ambushed and ate a honey bee on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola, in a Vacaville pollinator...
A gravid praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata, dines on a honey bee in a Vacaville pollinator garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
