Hoverfly Batesian mimicry

At first glance, the insect visiting this Chrysanthemum flower looks just like a honeybee - but on closer inspection you can see the insect has a lot of the characteristics you'd expect to see on a fly: a single pair of wings, short antenna, and sucking mouth parts.  This insect is in fact a hoverfly! Also known as a flower fly or a syrphid fly, this European species of hoverfly (Eristalis arbustorum) is incapable of stinging, but is definitely converging on the morphology (shape, color, etc.) of a honeybee.  This form of mimicry is also known as Batesian mimicry - when a non-toxic palatable species looks like a toxic non-palatable species.  What is even more amazing is that the hoverfly, honeybee, and Chrysanthemum are all exotic (or non-native) species here in the central valley of California!  Here's a cool paper by Pfenning et al. 2001.

Chicken of the woods

Believe it or not, this sulfur shelf (Laetiporus sulphureus) is an edible bracket fungus that is touted for tasting like chicken! While it's native to both North America & Europe, this beautiful specimen was growing on a Carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua) that is actually native to the Mediterranean & a common element in Santa Monica residential areas.  The sulfur shelf is a saprophyte (detritivore) and causes internal rot on the trees it infects.  What's fascinating is that it's also possible for the sulfur shelf to absorb some of the toxic properties of its host tree; which sometimes can lead to gastrointestinal problems for folks that eat the fungus growing on trees like eucalyptus & some conifers.  Here's a great paper by Turkoglu et al. 2007.

Acridid grasshopper color polymorphisms

This is the nymph of an Acridid grasshopper, a paurometabolous insect that derives its family name from the Greek term akris, meaning locust or swarming grasshopper (which are also members of the Acrididae!). The color variation in Acridid grasshoppers is just spectacular, as is the role of coloration in this group: thermal regulation, crypsis, aposematism, sexual dimorphisms, and even as a means to promote (negative) frequency-dependent selection - wherein rare phenotypes are missed by predators that prefer common prey phenotypes.  Here's a great review paper by Bond 2007.