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)

Can you spot the bumble bee in this bed of Eryngium amethystinum in the Sunset Gardens, Sonoma Cornerstone? (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A Very Hungry Bumble Bee

November 22, 2022

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

She was all bees-ness, this yellow-faced queen bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii. There she was, foraging in a bed of steely blue-purple flowers, Eryngium amethystinum, a genus that belongs to the carrot family, Apiaceae. A native bee on a non-native plant. It was Saturday, Nov.

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Doctoral candidate Danielle Rutkowski, who studies bumble bees, won a President's Prize in her category. This was her second consecutive President's Prize.

From A (Ants) to B (Bumble Bees) And More...

November 21, 2022

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Congratulations to four outstanding young entomologists from the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology--all PhDs to be.

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A syprhid fly and a Gulf Fritillary sharing a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Friday Fly Day: A Syrphid Fly and a Butterfly

November 18, 2022

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

It's Friday Fly Day and time to post a syrphid fly with a butterfly. The occasion: a syrphid fly and the Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) or passion butterfly are sharing a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola, and neither seems bothered that the other is there.

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A female carpenter bee, Xylocopa sonorina, also known as the Valley carpenter bee, forages on showy milkweed, Asclepias speciosa. This is one of the bees that the Rachel Vannette lab studied. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Innovative Research by RSPIB Scholar: Surprising Find About Carpenter Bees

November 17, 2022

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

When Professors Jay Rosenheim, Joanna Chiu and Louie Yang of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology launched the Research Scholars Program in Insect Biology (RSPIB) to give undergraduates closely mentored research experiences in biology, the innovative projects have simply been outstan...

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The UC Davis Entomology Games Team of doctoral candidates: Madison Hendrick, Jill Oberski, Erin "Taylor" Kelly and Zach Griebenow. (Photo by Geoffrey Attardo, UC Davis faculty)

Congrats, UC Davis Bug Team!

November 16, 2022

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

"In 1973 Dr. David Gibby of the Washington State University Extension Center started a program to meet the demand for urban horticulture and gardening advice, which has since expanded to all 50 states and 8 Canadian provinces.

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