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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UC Davis forensic entomologist Robert "Bob" Kimsey answering questions at his "Dr. Death" booth in Briggs Hall during the 2023 UC Davis Picnic Day. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Don't Miss This Bohart Museum Open House on 'Insects and Forensics'

June 1, 2023
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
He's a wealth of information about forensic entomology, and he'll share that with you. Don't miss the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house on "Insects and Forensics," featuring UC Davis forensic entomologist Robert Bob Kimsey of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
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UC Davis first-year entomology student Kat Taylor (in ant headgear) staffed the arts-and-crafts table at the Bohart Museum open house. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Colony of Red Ants Roams the Bohart Museum of Entomology

May 31, 2023
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
A colony of red ants recently roamed the Bohart Museum of Entomology. They really weren't red ants, but children wearing ant headgear, created during the family arts-and-crafts activity at the Bohart Museum of Entomology's open house on ants.
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This work, "The Siege of Vicksburg--Assault on Fort Hill," is by Swedish-born American illustrator Thure de Thulstrup (1848-1930), whom his contemporary critics considered "the foremost military artist in America." (Image courtesy of Wikipedia)

Malaria, Memorial Day and Memories of the Civil War

May 29, 2023
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Every Memorial Day, I especially remember my great-grandfather, Samuel Davidson Laughlin (1843-1910), a Civil War color bearer who contracted malaria during the Siege of Vicksburg (May 18 -July 4, 1863). The soldiers called the mosquitoes "gallinippers.
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A katydid nymph nestled in a baby blue eyes blossom, Nemophila menziesii, in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Katydid: She Did, She Didn't, and Then She Did

May 26, 2023
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
In the blink of an eye... There it was, nestled inside a baby blue eyes blossom, Nemophila menziesii, which is a spring-blooming plant native to California, Oregon and Baja California. "It?" A katydid nymph, a wingless critter with long black-and-white banded antennae.
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