Bug Squad

Welcome to the Bug Squad blog! The Bug Squad blog was launched Aug. 6, 2008 and is a daily blog (Monday through Friday). It showcases entomologists and the work they do. The blog focuses on scientists in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, the Bohart Museum of Entomology, Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, the UC Davis Bee Haven, and assorted campuswide events, including UC Davis Picnic Day, UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day, and Bohart Museum open houses. The blog spotlights insects, including bees, butterflies, dragonflies, and praying mantises, as well as arachnids such as jumping spiders and crab spiders. Author and photographer is Kathy Keatley Garvey, communications specialist, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and a longtime journalist and community scientist with two degrees from Washington State University. She is a member of the Entomological Society of America (ESA) and the Association for Communication Excellence (ACE). Her blog posts and images have won international awards from ACE and ESA and appeared on journal and magazine covers. She shoots primarily with a Nikon Z-8 mirrorless camera, a Nikon D500 and Nikon 800, with assorted macro lenses.

Our Story Begins with Eight Monarch Caterpillars in the Dead of Winter

December 30, 2016

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

This is a story about how eight monarch butterflies escaped the freezing temperatures of Vacaville, Calif., and hitchhiked to sunny Santa Cruz, thanks to Good Samaritans (Good Monarcharians?) Rita LeRoy and Walter Rockholt of Vallejo.

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A Beer for a Butterfly or 'Suds for a Bug'

December 29, 2016

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

It's almost that time againtime for the annual Beer for a Butterfly contest or Suds for a Bug. If you're out and about on Jan. 1, start looking for that cabbage white butterfly.

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Learn About Native Bees from Robbin Thorp

December 28, 2016

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

If you want to learn about native bees, the place to "bee" on Saturday, Jan. 7 is the Rush Ranch Nature Center, 3521 Grizzly Island Road, Suisun.

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Monarch Butterflies: Eight Is Not Nearly Enough

December 27, 2016

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Back in March of 1977, ABC launched a TV comedy-drama series titled "Eight Is Enough." It was about a Sacramento, Calif., family with eight children. The journalist/father, Tom Bradford, wrote a column for the fictitious Sacramento Register. "Eight Is Enough!" the father declared. He was wrong.

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Aren't You Supposed to Be Hibernating?

December 26, 2016

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Dec. 22 marked the winter solstice, the first day of winter. But don't tell that to the western yellowjacket, Vespula pensylvanica. It's supposed to be hibernating, not flying. But there it is flying around--and sipping nectar--from flowering Algerian ivy climbing a fence in Vacaville, Calif.

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