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.

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

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

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

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

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

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

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

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

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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A gloved hand holds a male monarch found cold and still in the middle of a residential street in west Vacaville on Jan. 3, 2022. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

First Monarch of the Year and First Summit of the Year

January 3, 2023

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

So there it was...a monarch lying on its side, one wing down and one wing up, in the middle of a residential neighborhood in west Vacaville, California, on a 42-degree morning on Tuesday, Jan. 3. It looked newly emerged but it wasn't moving. In fact, it looked quite dead.

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