Posts Tagged: Vacaville

A Checkered Past, a Checkered Future or Just Checkered?

Have you seen any Checkered White butterflies lately? They're quite common in the southern United States and northern Mexico (they're known as the...

A female Checkered White butterfly, Pontia protodice (as identified by UC Davis distinguished professor Art Shapiro) nectars on lavender in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A female Checkered White butterfly, Pontia protodice (as identified by UC Davis distinguished professor Art Shapiro) nectars on lavender in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The female Checkered White spreads its wings. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The female Checkered White spreads its wings. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A female Checkered White butterfly, Pontia protodice nectaring on lavender. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A female Checkered White butterfly, Pontia protodice nectaring on lavender. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The female Checkered White showing a rejection behavior although no males are around. "The 'tail in the air' is a sexual rejection posture," says UC Davis distinguished professor Art Shapiro.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The female Checkered White showing a rejection behavior although no males are around. "The 'tail in the air' is a sexual rejection posture," says UC Davis distinguished professor Art Shapiro.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Ooh, an Ooth! And on a Clothespin, at That!

No doubt you've seen a praying mantis egg case, or ootheca, on a tree, shrub, fence or post. But have you ever seen one attached to a...

An eggcase or ootheca warming on a clothespin in Vacaville, Calif. This is from a Stagmomantis limbata. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

An eggcase or ootheca warming on a clothespin in Vacaville, Calif. This is from a Stagmomantis limbata. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

This image of a gravid Stagmomantis limbata, taken last summer in a Vacaville pollinator garden, may have been the mama. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

This image of a gravid Stagmomantis limbata, taken last summer in a Vacaville pollinator garden, may have been the mama. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The predator and the prey. A female mantis, Stagmomantis limbata, eyes a honey bee in a pollinator garden in Vacaville last summer. She missed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The predator and the prey. A female mantis, Stagmomantis limbata, eyes a honey bee in a pollinator garden in Vacaville last summer. She missed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Ants and Butterflies of Gates Canyon: Quite the Ecosystem

Gates Canyon, located just outside the city of Vacaville,  in Solano County, Calif., is quite the ecosystem. It's one of the habitats of...

This is the species (Lasius nr. atopus) that inspired the initial stages of the UC Davis project. (Photo by Matthew Prebus)

This is the species (Lasius nr. atopus) that inspired the initial stages of the UC Davis project. (Photo by Matthew Prebus)

This image of Gates Canyon Road, Vacaville, was taken Sept. 25, 2020, following the massive wildfire that swept through the canyon. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

This image of Gates Canyon Road, Vacaville, was taken Sept. 25, 2020, following the massive wildfire that swept through the canyon. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Gates Canyon Road is a paved county road, located just outside the city of Vacaville. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Gates Canyon Road is a paved county road, located just outside the city of Vacaville. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

These Beetles Don't Want to Hold Your Hand

The Beatles sang "I Want to Hold Your Hand." The elm leaf beetles and their larvae don't want to hold your hand--unless perhaps you're holding a elm...

Assorted elm leaf beetles and larvae. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Assorted elm leaf beetles and larvae. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Eggs of the elm leaf beetle. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Eggs of the elm leaf beetle. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Elm leaf beetle larva or caterpillar. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Elm leaf beetle larva or caterpillar. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

An adult elm leaf beetle. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

An adult elm leaf beetle. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

An elm tree on Buck Avenue, Vacaville, showing defoliation by the elm leaf beetle and its larvae. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

An elm tree on Buck Avenue, Vacaville, showing defoliation by the elm leaf beetle and its larvae. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Elm leaf beetles on an elm leaf. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Elm leaf beetles on an elm leaf. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Art of the Ant

We're used to admiring street art that showcases such iconic insects as lady beetles, dragonflies and butterflies, but carpenter ants? Carpenter...

Street art usually focuses on such insects as bees, butterflies and dragonflies, but at Vacaville's Ulatis Creek Park, someone affixed this carpenter ant. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Street art usually focuses on such insects as bees, butterflies and dragonflies, but at Vacaville's Ulatis Creek Park, someone affixed this carpenter ant. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

See the carpenter ant (foreground at right) on the bridge pillar of the Ulatis Creek Bridge, Vacaville? (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

See the carpenter ant (foreground at right) on the bridge pillar of the Ulatis Creek Bridge, Vacaville? (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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