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)

This is a female mosquito, the Asian tiger mosquito, or Aedes albopictus, laying eggs. (Photo by James Gathany, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

UC Davis Seminar: How This Virginia Tech Researcher Targets Mosquitoes

January 10, 2023

If you've ever been bitten by a pesky mosquito--who hasn't?--you're hoping researchers will some day be able to control them better and reduce the spread of the deadly diseases they transmit.

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Pollinator enthusiast Ria de Grassi of Davis confers with UC Davis distinguished emeritus professor Robbin Thorp (1933-2019) at a Bohart Museum of Entomology open house in 2017. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Ria de Grassi Wins the Bumble Bee Contest!

January 9, 2023

Congratulations to UC Davis alumna and pollinator enthusiast Ria de Grassi of Davis, who spotted and photographed the first bumble bee of the year in the two-county area of Yolo and Solano to win the third annual Robbin Thorp Memorial First-Bumble-Bee-of-the-Year Contest.

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A cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae, in flight, heading toward lantana. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

No Cabbage White Butterfly, No Bumble Bee

January 6, 2023

No cabbage white butterfly, no bumble bee. As of 4 p.m. today (Jan.

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A monarch caterpillar feeding on tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica, in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Year 2023: What Does the Year Hold for Monarchs and Tropical Milkweed?

January 5, 2023

Do monarch butterflies know what they want/need? Apparently so, from personal observation. Over the years, we've grown multiple species of milkweed in our pollinator garden in Vacaville, Calif. We give them a choice.

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This is a gallery of bark beetles. A seminar on forest beetles will be among the seminars hosted by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

UC Davis ENT Seminars: From Bark Beetles to Meat-Eating Bees

January 4, 2023

From bark beetles to meat-eating bees! And from UC Davis to France... Seminar coordinator Emily Meineke, urban landscape entomologist and assistant professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, has announced the list of the department's 10 winter seminars, which begin Jan.

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