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Bug Squad

Bug Squad blog image depicts a honey bee sting in action.

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. Feedspot lists it as one of the top entomology blogs on the Internet. 

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Robert Peck, an entomologist with the University of Hawaii won first prize in the PBESA Photo Salon competition with this image of a damselfly. (Copyright, Robert Peck)

Winning PBESA Images: A Damselfly, a Blowfly and a Monarch

April 23, 2024
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
An image of a damselfly photographed in Hawaii, and images of a blowfly and a monarch photographed in California won the Photo Salon recently hosted by the Pacific Branch, Entomological Society of America (PBESA) Photo Salon coordinator Joshua Milnes, an entomologist with the Plant Protection Divisi...
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A yellow-faced bumble bee,Bombus vosnesenskii, buzzes into a barely opened California golden poppy in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

There Is No Planet 'B'

April 22, 2024
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
There is no "Planet B." The Earth is all we have. Today, April 22, is Earth Day (an annual event launched April 22, 1970) and what a perfect occasion to celebrate a native bee and a native wildflower.
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