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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A monarch butterfly nectaring on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola, in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Got a Question About Monarch Butterflies? Bohart Open House on Nov. 4

October 26, 2023
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Want to talk to a scientist about monarch butterflies? Then you'll want to attend the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house on Saturday, Nov. 4 from 1 to 4 p.m. in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane. Scientists will be there to answer your questions.
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This is a Calisoga spider that Rodrigo Monjaraz-Ruedas will discuss at the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology seminar on Oct. 30. (Photo by arachnologist Marshal Hedin, San Diego State University)

Gotta Love Those Spiders

October 25, 2023
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Gotta love those spiders! What, you don't? They scare you? And you scream? Fear not. Arachnologists will set the record straight. (Maybe not your scream, though!) Just in time for Halloween, the next UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology seminar will be on spiders.
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Photographer to the praying mantis: "Good morning, Ms. Mantis! How are you today? Hope you're not thinking about catching a bee for breakfast!" (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Ms. Mantis and Her Morning Exercises

October 20, 2023
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Scenario: A female praying mantis, a Stagmomantis limbata, is perched on a daphne. Pho-tog: "Good morning, Ms. Mantis! How are you today? Hope you're not thinking about catching a bee for breakfast!" Ms. Mantis: "Oh, no! I would never think of catching a bee! I'm...ahem...allergic to bees.
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