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)
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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A two-headed butterfly? No, a male and female Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae, keeping busy on a Gaillardia or blanket flower. The butterflies are also known as "passion butterflies." Their host plant is the passionlower vine, Passiflora. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

About Those Two-Headed Butterflies...

October 19, 2023
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
UC Davis distinguished professor Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology at the University of California, Davis, gets queries about two-headed butterflies.
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A shadow follows a Gulf Fritillary. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Shadow Knows, But What Does It Know?

October 18, 2023
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Find beauty not only in the thing itself but in the pattern of the shadows, the light and dark which that thing provides.---JunichiroTanizaki (1886-1965), Japanese author. The shadow knows, but what does it know? It knows to follow.
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Aquatic entomologist Sharon Lawler examining a giant water bug. She retired from the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology after a 28-year career. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Sharon Lawler: Professor Emerita, Compassionate Human Being

October 17, 2023
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
If you've attended the annual UC Davis Picnic Day celebrations in Briggs Hall over the years, you probably met her, or asked questions about aquatic insects. "Her" is aquatic entomologist Sharon Lawler of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, now a professor emerita.
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