We are the Xylocopa, more commonly known as the carpenter bee. Xylocopa is a member of the Apidae family. Our relatives include our naturalized European cousin the honey bee, Apis mellifera and the Bombus species, common name bumblebee. By the way, A. mellifera will not sting unless its life or nest is threatened. The author… Continue reading Carpenter Bee, Xylocopa californica
Category: Nature
Praying Mantis: The Nymphs Hatch
In a recent post I wrote about a female praying mantis, probably of the species Stagmomantis limbata, that spent last summer stalking other insects from her camouflage perch on a balloon plant milkweed. In late summer, when she was about four inches long, this formidable apex predator among insects produced an ootheca, an egg case… Continue reading Praying Mantis: The Nymphs Hatch
Woolly-Pod Milkweed: A Mantis, Monarchs, Flies and Honey Bees
The Praying Mantis Princess The first time I saw the Bordered mantis, Stagmomantis limbata, she was no more than half of an inch in length. She was resting on a fuzzy Asclepias eriocarpa leaf, common name woolly-pod milkweed. If the milkweed’s leaves were not a few shades of green darker than the mantis, I would not… Continue reading Woolly-Pod Milkweed: A Mantis, Monarchs, Flies and Honey Bees
The Petition
The Petition Come evening a keening sound in the wilderness, A call for the divine sloth to end her sad deliberation. So many stout branches await her grasp. Dusk it is then, for the Anthropocene and its apex predator, For the brain that wrote itself an infinite loop and Conjured up a deity in its… Continue reading The Petition