If you like to take nature walks and lean against an occasional tree, you might rub shoulders with a red-eyed, red-shouldered bug.
On warm, springlike days, soapberry bugs are exploring their territories--and doing what comes naturally.
These predominately black-and-red bugs are seed feeders on plants but they're much more than that. Scientists consider them the evolutionary “canary in the coal mine.”
I captured these photos of soapberry bugs last Friday in the UC Davis Arboretum. UC Davis biologist Scott Carroll, biologist who studies basic and applied aspects of evolutionary biology, specifically soapberry bugs, considers them "good mothers and avid lovers." .
“Soapberry bugs are tame, pretty, good mothers, avid lovers, and among the best native guides to ongoing evolution on the planet," he writes on his under-construction Web site.
"They respond quicky to changes in the environment and can be good models for observing evolution in action."
They're also good photographic models.
Attached Images:
Up a tree
In love