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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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A golden dung fly, Scathophaga stercoraria, peers at the photographer. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

2023: These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

December 29, 2023
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
There's no fame, fortune or glory in writing a daily (volunteer) Bug Squad blog. It's about the insects. It's always been about the insects, from honey bees to bumble bees, to butterflies, to dragonflies, to praying mantises and more.
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The Kniphofia "Christmas Cheer" poker plant, seen here in the Ruth Risdon Storer Garden and nearby area, grows in clumps. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Spreading Some Holiday Cheer

December 28, 2023
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
If you've lately visited the Ruth Risdon Storer Garden, part of the 100-acre UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden, you've seen them. Honey bees nectaring on the Kniphofia "Christmas Cheer" poker plant.
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A yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, forages on Eryngium amethystinum, a genus that belongs to the carrot family, Apiaceae. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

UC Davis Arboretum Is the Magical Place to Find the First-of-the-Year Bumble Bee

December 26, 2023
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
If history repeats itself, the person who finds and photographs the first bumble bee of the year in the two-county area of Yolo and Solano will do so in the 100-acre UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden--or will find it foraging on a plant purchased from one of the Arboretum's popular plant sales.
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A feral honey bee colony (now gone) from a backyard in Vacavile, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

It's Bee-ginning to Look a Lot Like...

December 25, 2023
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's bee-ginning to look a lot like Christmas... All hail our littlest agricultural worker. European colonists brought the honey bee (Apis mellifera) to what is now the United States in 1622. Specifically, the bees arrived at the Jamestown colony (Virginia).
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