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)
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Honey bee on Mexican sunlower (Tithonia rotundifola) in the UC Davis Bee Haven. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

A Visit to the UC Davis Bee Haven

September 26, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 What do you prefer to do on a day off?For me, it's a "mini-vacation" to the UC Davis Bee Haven, the half-acre bee demonstration garden maintained by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology (ENT). Installed in the fall of 2009, it's located next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr Honey Bee Research…
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Megarhyssa atrata by Sloan Tomlinson
Bug Squad: Article

What a Wasp! What a Tattoo!

September 25, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 This is too good not to share!"That Wasp Guy" Sloan Tomlinson of Hatfield, Mass., an artist, photographer, researcher, and educator who "shares the beauty of the most-maligned insects: wasps," now has an incredible tattoo on his arm. It's of a Megarhyssa atrata, also known as the black…
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UC Davis forensic entomologist Robert Kimsey at the Vacaville Museum's "Art of Death" gallery exhibit. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

'It's One Universal Experience We All Wlll Share'

September 24, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 "It's one universal experience we all will share."So said a panel of eight professional experts in the death industry when they gathered in the Vacaville Museum courtyard to discuss their work. The museum hosted the panel discussion as part of its current gallery exhibition, "The Art of Death," which…
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Male subadult praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

Look Before You Leap!

September 23, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 "Look before you leap!"How many times have you heard that or something similar: "Pay attention! Watch your step! Be careful!  Be vigilant!"But have you ever seen a praying mantis take a step and then a gigantic leap--right into a spider web? "That's one small step for mantis, one giant leap for…
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Asian tiger mosquito.
Bug Squad: Article

Meet Lisa Baik, New Mosquito Researcher at UC Davis

September 22, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 Meet Lisa Baik, the new mosquito researcher at UC Davis.Baik, a UC Davis alumna and a former postdoctoral researcher at Yale University--and described as a “brilliant scientist”--is the newest member of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology  (ENT) faculty.Baik joined the faculty…
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