Bug Squad

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.

Phyciodes mylitta perches on a cactus. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Mylitta Crescent: Thistle Lover

June 27, 2023

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Ever seen a Phyciodes mylitta, aka Mylitta Crescent? It's a butterfly that breeds on thistles, such as Cirsium, Carduus and Silybum. The one that visited our yard June 17 wasn't visiting a thistle, however. It landed on a cactus. It's an orange and black butterfly (orange wings with black markings).

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A female Valley carpenter bee, Xylocopa sonorina, heads for evening primrose in a Vacaville pollinator garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A 'Morning' Carpenter Bee and an Evening Primrose

June 26, 2023

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

As National Pollinator Month winds down, let's visit a "morning" carpenter bee and an evening primrose. The evening primrose, Oenothera biennis, native to the Americas, is unique in that it blooms as night (as its name implies) and dies back at noon.

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A tobacco budworm, Heliothis virescens,, munching on Chinese forget-me-nots in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Tobacco Budworm Vs. Honey Bee

June 23, 2023

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Please, please, forget to eat our forget-me-nots! But it's not going to happen. So here we are in our Vacaville pollinator garden, looking at the Chinese forget-me-nots. We see honey bees, leafcutter bees, syrphid flies, lady beetles, cabbage white butterflies, and other critters foraging.

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"Open up!" A honey bee attempts to enter a California golden poppy. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Sorry, Bee, I'm Closed for Bees-Ness

June 22, 2023

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

A honey bee heads for a patch of California golden poppies. She finds a blossom she likes. Bee: "Hey, Goldie Locks, I'm here to collect some nectar and pollen." Goldie Locks: "You're what?" Bee: "I want to collect some of your nectar and pollen.

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Remnants of the 40 bee colonies destroyed when a truck driver, under cover of darkness, deliberately drove over them last week in Winters. They belonged to Caroline Yelle, owner of Pope Valley Queens.

Who Deliberately Runs Over Bee Hives?

June 21, 2023

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Sometimes you hear about bored teenagers trashing bee hives by deliberately throwing rocks at them or gleefully tipping them over. But a truck driver who deliberately plows through a bee yard on private property and crushes 40 colonies? That's unreal.

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