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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. 

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Master Beekeeper Sung Lee of Castro Valley, known worldwide on social media as "Sung Lee The Bee Charmer," displayed his observation hive at the California Honey Festival. With him is fellow CAMBP member Leandra Hale of Lake Tahoe. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Bees and CAMBP Prevail at California Honey Festival

May 22, 2023
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Rain and hail pelted the California Honey Festival, held recently in downtown Woodland, but that didn't deter the estimated 22,000 to 25,000 attendees who simply opened their umbrellas, slipped on their rain gear, or dashed for cover at store fronts.
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A velvety tree ant encounters a honey bee. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Bohart Museum Open House: Ants, Hissers, Sticks and More

May 18, 2023
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Come for the ants, stay for the hissers. Or come for the hissers, stay for the ants. Either way, it's all good. When the Bohart Museum of Entomology hosts an open house on Sunday, May 21 from 1 to 4 p.m., ants will be the main attraction, but don't forget the critters in the live "petting zoo.
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These are carpenter ants, Camponotus semitestaceus, as identified by UC Davis 2020 alumnus and ant researcher Brendon Boudinot, an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow at the Institute of Zoology and Evolutionary Research at Friedrich Schiller University Jena. (Photo taken in Vacaville, Calif. by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Bees Are Your Buddies; Ants Are Your Friends

May 17, 2023
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
If bees are your buddies, ants ought to be your friends, right? Right. They belong to the same order, Hymenoptera, but some folks insist that ants don't belong in your life. Oh, but they do! Find out why at the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house from 1 to 4 p.m., Sunday, May 21.
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Forensic entomologist Robert "Bob" Kimsey of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Mark Your Calendars: Three Bohart Museum Open Houses

May 16, 2023
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Mark your calendars! The Bohart Museum of Entomology has scheduled three open houses between now and Saturday, July 22. The first open house is themed "Ants!" It's set from 1 to 4 p.m., Sunday, May 21. The Phil Ward ant lab, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, is planning the event.
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