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.

Bombus fervidus, formerly known as B. californicus, makes a beeline for a rock purslane in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A Bumble Bee's Beeline for a Rock Purslane

June 4, 2024

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

We miss the late Robbin Thorp, 1933-2019, distinguished emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis, who co-authored Bumble Bees of North America: an Identification Guide (Princeton University Press, 2014).

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UC Davis distinguished professor Walter Leal delivering his Academic Senate Faculty Distinguished Research Award lecture. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Bees, The Team, The Honor

June 3, 2024

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

When UC Davis distinguished professor Walter Leal, recipient of a UC Davis Academic Senate's 2024 Faculty Distinguished Research Award, delivered his seminar at a recent luncheon in the UC Davis Conference Center, honey bees showed up, too. In images, text, and analogies.

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UC Davis distinguished professor James R. Carey has written numerous research articles on the Mediterranean fruit fly.

Medfly Invasion Crisis in California: What Should Be Done?

May 31, 2024

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

During the initial throes of the Mediterranean fruit fly invasion in California, protesters disagreeing with the California Department of Food and Agriculture's eradication procedures and policies used to sing the catchy tune, "There Ain't No Bugs on Me," the work of Jerry Garcia and David Grisman.

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A katydid nymph, its long threadlike antennae upright, descends a stem in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Katydid Nymph Did

May 30, 2024

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

The katydid nymph did. It did appear in May. The UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program (UC IPM) tells us that katydid nymphs appear in our gardens in April or May. This little nymph was right on time, barely, as it surfaced in our Vacaville garden on May 28.

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Why California's Fruit Fly Invasion Is in a Crisis Mode

May 29, 2024

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

A noted authority on California's tropical fruit fly invasion says the state is in "crisis mode." "It's really serious," says UC Davis distinguished professor James R. Carey, a noted authority on the invasion of tropical fruit flies.

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