Rangelands

Is Franklin's bumble bee extinct or is it just elusive? Annual search parties conducted since 2006 have failed to locate the species. Now scientists may learn its status via DNA "fingerprints.

Sorry, we're closed! What's a honey bee to do when one of her favorite flowers, cape mallow (Anisodontea sp. "Strybing Beauty") is not open for bees-ness. Well, leave it to the bee to find a way. We recently witnessed a honey bee encountering a yet-to-open flower in the early morning.

The native plant garden at the Eastern Sierra Visitors Center (ESVC) is now a Certified Pollinator Garden! The Eastern Sierra Land Trust (ESLT)'s Eastside Pollinator Garden Project encourages the creation of pollinator-friendly gardens in Inyo and Mono County.

Would you eat a chocolate-covered cicada? Yes? No? Maybe? Entomophagy is no problem for scientists at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, University of California, Davis. They know where the office snacks are kept. The items includedrum rollchocolate-covered cicadas.

You've probably read the children's book, "Where's Waldo?" Waldo wanders around the world, gets lost in the crowd or scenery, and it's your job to find him. Where'd he go? If you have a praying mantis in your yard, you probably play "Where's Waldo?" a lot. In our yard, it's "Walda.

So, here you are, a honey bee nectaring on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola. All's right with the world, at least in your world. You're sipping nectar to take home to your colony and suddenly...a buzz.

I suspect anyone who has used livestock guardian dogs (LGDs) to protect livestock has experienced at least one of the following interactions with non-ranchers: A call or conversation with a neighbor, complaining about the dog barking; An email (often anonymous) from a neighbor about the dog barking;...

Interviewer: "Hey, Gulf Fritillary! What happened to you? Something take a chunk out of your wings?" Miss Gulf Frit: "I dunno. I was just fluttering around the passionflower vine and something grabbed me." Interviewer: "Do you have any idea what happened?" Miss Gulf Frit: "Sorry, no.

In the 5 years I've been with UCCE, I have received a few recurring weed-related questions. I've certainly had some unique requests, like how to deal with fig trees invading a livestock water pipeline, or whether filaree might be harmful to guinea pigs (it isn't).

If you're an entomologist, an agriculturist, a gardener or an insect enthusiast, you've probably seen the life cycle of a lady beetle, aka ladybug: from the egg to the larva to the pupa to the adult.