Bug Squad

A daily (M-F) blog launched Aug. 6, 2008 and about the wonderful world of insects and those who study them. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Primary Image
Doctoral candidate Mia Lippey will deliver her exit seminar on Wednesday, Jan. 7

Mia Lippey's Exit Seminar

January 2, 2026
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 Doctoral candidate Mia Lippey of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, an outstanding scholar and self-described "life-long lover of all things insect-related," is looking forward to delivering her exit seminar.An entomologist and ecologist active in both the Entomological Society…
View Article
Primary Image
Cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae, in flight. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Net a Butterfly, Photograph a Bee

January 1, 2026
 New Year's Day is not only the beginning of a year, but it's also the beginning of two UC Davis insect contests: one involving a cabbage white butterfly, and the other, a bumble bee.Chances are no one won either one today, as it's been raining almost non-stop, and the 10-day forecast predicts an 80…
View Article
Primary Image
Exotic cockroaches, from Bohart Museum of Entomology

A New Cockroach in Town?

December 30, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 A new cockroach in town?That's what a UC Davis retired professor thought on Tuesday, Dec. 23 when he spotted an unusual cockroach emerging from his shower drain at his Davis home.He said he "recognized  it as unusual and caught it. It was a male Turkestan cockroach, Blatta lateralis, a species…
View Article
Primary Image
Cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

On the Hunt for the First Cabbage White Butterfly...Suds for a Bug!

December 29, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 Suds for a bug. A butterfly for a beer...If you find and collect the first cabbage white butterfly in the three-county area of Sacramento, Yolo and Solano, and you are judged the winner of the annual "Beer for a Butterfly" Contest, you will receive a pitcher of beer or its equivalent.And bragging…
View Article