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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. 

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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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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